Attorney General Ken Paxton’s most recent effort to punish Texas people with transgender youth has been blocked by a prosecutor in Austin.
On March 1, Travis County District Court Judge Maria Cantú Hexsel handed over papers requesting that the LGBTQ business PFLAG National turn over records for gender-affirming health treatment for their transgender children. On March 1, Judge Cantú Hexsel granted a temporary restraining order against Paxton. The papers, which Paxton requested in February, would include the names and addresses of transgender adolescents.
On March 25, Hexsel scheduled a hearing to decide whether to continue blocking Paxton’s demands.
PFLAG is represented by human rights organizations Lambda Legal, the ACLU of Texas, the ACLU, Transgender Law Center, and the law firm Arnold & Porter. In a joint statement, the four organizations said they were “grateful” for Hexsel’s ruling.
The groups expressed gratitude to the Court for recognizing the intrusive demands the Attorney General’s Office made of PFLAG National and its Texas members, and for preventing them from having to respond while we continue to litigate the office’s requests. We will now go back to court to request an additional and ultimately permanent block so that PFLAG can continue to support its Texas members who have transgender youth by supporting and caring for their children, as all loving parents do.
In Texas, PFLAG is a plaintiff in two lawsuits brought against restrictions on gender-affirming medical care for trans youth. In Loe v. Texas, PFLAG is challenging S.B. 14, the state’s ban on gender-affirming medical care for trans youth. The organization is challenging the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services’ (DFPS) rule that requires investigations of parents who collaborate with medical professionals to provide their transgender children with medically necessary care in PFLAG v. Abbott.
Paxton has previously sought details on transgender people both inside and outside of Texas. Despite having no jurisdiction, the attorney general requested medical records from a transgender health care provider in another state in January. Paxton requested that the Texas DFPS compile a list of individuals who had changed their genders on their Texas driver’s license and other department records in the previous two years.
