On Friday, a Texas-based appellate court upheld a number of lower court decisions that prevented Texas from investigating several communities that provided gender-affirming health care to their children for child abuse.
The 3rd Court of Appeals ‘ 67-page decision in PFLAG v. Abbott preserves two 2022 momentary rulings that prevent the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services from conducting queries into people who are users of PFLAG National, an LGBTQ+ right party.
The judge’s ruling in another 2022 event, Doe v. Abbott, protects a home and a counselor from an inspection by the office while a final decision is pending, but it lets Gov. Greg Abbott is held accountable for the complaint.
The families of transgender kids have the basic right to direct their children’s health care without fear that they will be investigated or that their children have the right to get that clinical care, according to Justice Gisela Triana in the selection.
The Department of Family and Protective Services is engaged in lawful battles, which stem from an earlier investigation by Abbott that” conducted a quick and complete investigation” of any reports that minors have experienced” sex change” procedures, building on an earlier opinion from Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, which allegedly expanded the constitutional definition of child abuse to include gender-affirming health care.
The appeals court defined gender-affirming medical care as the use of puberty suppressants and hormone therapy for the treatment of gender dysphoria, a condition characterized by” clinically significant distress” that some people experience when their gender identity does n’t match their sex at birth in its decision.
Paxton argued in his book that transgender people should receive standard care without having to remove reproductive organs or genitalia, a claim that medical professionals and other experts quickly refuted as false.
The ruling prevents the state from separating transgender children from their families while it is in effect, according to advocates for the families and PFLAG, which has 17 chapters in Texas.
Nothing could be further from being abusive than parents supporting and loving their transgender children, according to Ash Hall, a policy and advocacy specialist with the ACLU of Texas, in a statement. This decision is yet another desperately needed victory for transgender people and those who support and love them.
PFLAG v. Abbott injunctions affirmed
All Democrats, including Chief Justice Darlene Byrne and Justices Rosa Lopez Theofanis and Triana of the 3rd Court of Appeals, were present for the decision.
In June 2022, PFLAG National and three families that are currently the subject of a family services department investigation sued the state agency and Abbott.
They claimed that the department violated the Administrative Procedure Act and that it discriminated against transgender youth and denied parents the right to direct care for their children.
No new regulations, according to the Department of Family and Protective Services, were required to conduct an investigation into families providing such medical care, according to the organization.
One injunction was issued for two anonymous families ( Voe and Roe ) and another for PFLAG members and the Briggles family, preventing the department from continuing to investigate those families based solely on reports that their children received gender-affirming medical care.
Meachum based her ruling on her finding that the department’s rule implementing Abbott’s order “was given the effect of a new law or new agency rule, despite no new legislation, regulation or even valid agency policy”, and that it went beyond the agency’s authority and “enabling statute”.
The three appeals court justices affirmed Meachum’s orders in their entirety.
Paul D. Castillo, senior counsel at Lambda Legal, celebrated the ruling Friday. Lambda Legal filed the lawsuits in conjunction with the ACLU of Texas, Jon L. Stryker and Slobodan Randjelović LGBTQ &, HIV Project, the ACLU Women’s Rights Project, and the law firm of Baker Botts LLP.
The Court acknowledged once more that these families who are only caring for and affirming their children and seeking the best course of care from their medical providers are at risk of irreparable harm, according to Castillo in a statement.
On Friday, American-Statesman requests for comment from Abbott, Paxton, and the Department of Family and Protective Services did not respond.
Doe v. Abbott decision was upheld but the court overturned it.
Doe v. Abbott, a case brought by the parents of a transgender adolescent who has been diagnosed with gender dysphoria, and by Dr. Megan Mooney, a psychologist who treats transgender children, was the subject of an appellate ruling on Friday.
The lawsuit sought injunctive relief against the new rule, which would apply to all of the state’s families, shortly after the Department of Family and Protective Services announced it would follow Abbott’s directive. The Texas Supreme Court, which decided that a lower court did not have the authority to issue a statewide injunction in May 2022, at least temporarily stymied that relief. The Supreme Court did not reach a decision on the case’s merits, and the case’s merits have still not been decided in trial.
Justices Byrne, Triana, and Edward Smith upheld an injunction preventing the department from conducting an investigation into the Doe family based on gender-affirming care.
They also deviated from the lower court by upholding the governor’s decision on the grounds that the plaintiffs had no right to file a lawsuit against him or Paxton, but only the department.
According to Smith, quoting the Texas Supreme Court opinion,” The Governor and Attorney General were free to share their legal and policy views, but the Department was not compelled to do so.”
Next steps
The state has the option of bringing an appeal to the conservative Texas Supreme Court from the appellate court’s decisions. If it does n’t, the cases will likely go back to the Travis County state district courts where the original decisions were made, where they will go to trial on the merits.
In the meantime, PFLAG members ‘ families cannot be formally investigated by the family services department for providing medical care to transgender youths.
The cases, which include one that is currently being heard, include one involving a Texas Supreme Court case involving Senate Bill 14, which was passed by lawmakers in May 2023, making such medical procedures prohibited in the state.
In a phone interview with the Statesman, Karen Loewy, senior counsel and director of the Constitutional Law Practice for Lambda Legal, said,” It’s hard not to see ( the DFPS rule ) as anything but outrageous targeting of the parents of trans kids who are just trying to make the best decision they know how for their own children’s health and well-being, and they’re doing this in conjunction with their medical providers, and that’s exactly what you want parents to do.” It’s encouraging to see that the court understood the harms.
More: Travis County district judge blocks Ken Paxton’s demands for PFLAG gender- affirming care records
You can read the court’s ruling in PFLAG v. Abbott below.
Texas court continues to halt investigations into families of transgender youth, according to this article’s original publication Austin American-Statesman.
