On Sept. 16, the Travis County District Court issued a third injunction blocking Texas from implementing a directive targeting trans youth and their families across the state.
The directive ordered the Department of Family and Protective Services (DFPS) to investigate parents who work with medical professionals to provide their adolescent transgender children with medically necessary healthcare. According to a press release that Lambda Legal, PFLAG National and ACLU of Texas jointly issued, the directive could have led to transgender youth being placed in foster care and their parents criminally charged with child abuse—just for following the advice of their physicians and mental health providers.
The ruling in PFLAG v. Abbott covers all Texas families who are members of PFLAG National, a national LGBTQ+ organization with 17 chapters in Texas. It also covers Adam and Amber Briggle and their son, M.B. Earlier; the court had issued an injunction blocking DFPS from investigating two other plaintiff families in the PFLAG v. Abbott lawsuit who are anonymous for purposes of the lawsuit.
The decision came after the plaintiffs notified the court that DFPS was continuing investigations against PFLAG members, and the actions included pulling a 13-year-old student out of class and questioning him at school about his medical history.
After being questioned for nearly an hour, the eighth grader had a "meltdown" and "became very fearful and upset that something might happen to me or his dad because of who he is," his mother, under the pseudonym Carol Koe, said in a signed court declaration, The Hill reported.
"Families of transgender kids in Texas who are members of PFLAG National find shelter from Gov. Abbott's unjust order," said PFLAG National Executive Director Brian K. Bond in a statement. "PFLAG, our chapters in Texas and around the country are sources of support and safety from government harm because every LGBTQ+ person deserves respect, dignity and the right to access the care they need when they need it."
"Once again a Texas court has stepped in to say what we knew from the beginning: State leaders have no business interfering with life-saving care essential for transgender youth," added Adri Perez (they/them), of the ACLU of Texas. "We should trust doctors and every major medical association on how to support transgender youth. State leadership continues to attack parents for how they raise their kids—and all our plaintiffs are doing is providing unconditional love and support for children of all gender identities. We will never stop fighting for the rights, safety and dignity of transgender Texans."
