As transgender and non-binary children continue to be targeted for bullying in Texas and around the region, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton decided to up the ante, demanding that PFLAG Nationals turn over information and documents about its support of Texas families seeking gender-affirming medical care for their transgender children. On Wednesday, Feb. 28, PFLAG sued the Texas OAG in response, calling his demands “outrageous and unconstitutional.”
Brian K. Bond, CEO of PFLAG National, said in a press release announcing the lawsuit, “This mean-spirited demand from the Attorney General’s Office is petty and invasive, which is why we want the court to put an end to it.
“Across races, places, and genders, our families and communities are stronger when we are free to come together,” Bond continued. “PFLAG National, our chapters and our entire community will continue leading with love as we have for the last five decades, providing support, education and advocacy to ensure every LGBTQ+ person in Texas and beyond is safe, celebrated, empowered and loved.”
According to the press release, PFLAG National, which has 18 chapters in Texas, On February 9, PFLAG National received civil demands from the Attorney General’s Office to turn over documents, communications, and information related to PFLAG National and the organization’s work helping families with transgender adolescents.
PFLAG National is a plaintiff in two lawsuits filed against restrictions on gender-affirming medical care for adolescents in Texas: Loe v. Texas challenging S.B. 14, the state’s ban on gender-affirming medical care for minors, and PFLAG v. Abbott challenging the Texas Department of Family and Protective Service’s rule mandating investigations of parents who work with medical professionals to provide their adolescent transgender children with medically necessary health care.
The Texas State Supreme Court heard oral arguments in Loe v. Texas in January.
The American Civil Liberties Union of Texas, the ACLU, Lambda Legal, and Transgender Law Center filed the lawsuit Wednesday night on behalf of PFLAG National in Travis County District Court requesting a temporary restraining order against the attorney general’s investigative demands on the grounds the OAG is acting outside its authority, attempting to subvert the discovery process in the separate lawsuits challenging S.B. 14 and the DFPS rule, and seeking to violate PFLAG’s and its members’ constitutional free speech and association rights, as well as the right to be free from unconstitutional searches and seizures.
“PFLAG National is a beacon of hope for trans youth and their families in Texas,” said Brian Klosterboer, attorney at the ACLU of Texas. “The organization has repeatedly gone to court to protect the rights of parents and young people to make medical decisions based on evidence and science, rather than fear or politics. Transgender youth know who they are and will not be silenced, even when elected officials relentlessly target them for political gain.
“The Attorney General Office’s latest attempt to punish organizations for opposing government overreach sets a dangerous precedent for all Texans who advocate on any issue and must be stopped,” Klosterboer said.
Harper Seldin, an attorney at the ACLU’s LGBTQ & HIV Project, said, “Targeting PFLAG National as an organization and its members invokes the historical targeting of civil rights organizations that assert the dignity and equality of their members in the face of government oppression. The Attorney General’s Office is attempting to use its powers to intimidate both PFLAG National as an organization and its members in direct opposition to their constitutional speech and association rights. We will never stop fighting for the safety, dignity, and equality of transgender youth and their families in Texas and across the country.”
Transgender Law Center Legal Director Lynly Egyes added, “Transgender Law Center will continue to fight on behalf of PFLAG National and its members against the continued unconstitutional actions of the Office of the Attorney General. This is just another cruel attempt to circumvent the legal system and target families and friends who support transgender people. Our communities will not be intimidated by the cruel machinations of out-of-touch politicians. We stand with the Texans of all races, genders, and backgrounds who are fighting for the affirming care we all deserve.”
And Karen Loewy, senior counsel and director of constitutional law practice for Lambda Legal called Paxton’s demands of PFLAG “just another attempt to scare Texas families with transgender adolescents into abandoning their rights and smacks of retaliation against PFLAG National for standing up for those families against the state’s persecution. But PFLAG members’ rights to join together for mutual support, community, and encouragement are strong and we will fight to protect them.”
Find background on the cases and more information at the PFLAG website.
Paxton has already demanded private healthcare information from clinics in Georgia and Seattle on trans minors in Texas seeking gender-affirming care there.
In January, officials for QueerMed — a telehealth clinic based in Georgia that stopped serving trans youth in Texas when the ban on gender-affirming health care for minors went into effect and from whom Paxton requested information dating back to Jan. 1, 2022 before that ban went into effect — said they would “under no circumstances” disclose protected patient information to Paxton or anyone else.
Seattle Children’s Clinic sued Paxton’s office late last year following his demand for information including the number of Texas children they have treated, medications prescribed to children, the children’s diagnoses and the name of Texas laboratories where tests for youth are administered.
— Tammye Nash
