On February 18, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton released a non-binding order opinion calling gender-affirming care for trans young people “child abuse.”
On February 22, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott directedTexas Department of Family and Planning Services is going to investigate parents for child abuse if they help their trans children access the care they need. He also stated that teachers, doctors, and nurses could face criminal sanctions if they fail to report parents and providers supporting trans youth.
The Danger to Families
Legally, neither the governor nor the attorney general have the power to define — or redefine — child abuse. And providing trans young people with health care they want and need — and that doctors have provided for roughly a century — is absolutely not child abuse. The law has not been changed. Trans health care is legal in all 50 states.
But what do people do? Think about the law matters. It can be difficult to get the state out of a family once someone reports neglect or abuse. Families with trans children should be concerned about the possibility of being monitored by the state. Texas residents who are already at risk of child removal and the possibility of being incarcerated are more at risk. family policing system. Black, Indigenous, Latinx, poor, disabledFamilies with trans parents, who have been victims of intimate partner violence or are addicted to drugs, are more likely than other families to have their children taken away. They are also less likely than other families to be able to move to a safer environment for their children if they so choose.
There is no safe option for families in this situation.
Trans youth in Texas parents are now being supported afraid of bringing their children to the doctor or to school, because if they do, teachers, doctors and nurses — who may be afraid of being criminalized themselves, even if the actual risk is very low — could report them as child abusers. But Not taking the child to the doctor or to school can also result in the child’s removal from their home.
If a doctor recommends their child start puberty blockers — a safe, reversible intervention that has saved trans lives for years — and the parent moves forward with the treatment, they might be accused of child abuse. If the agency then decides to act on the governor’s word rather than the law, the agency could remove the child until the parents can fight it in court. Children who are removed from their homes can be at greater risk of actual abuse. Trans children are often abused in foster care systems. It is difficult to know that you should win in court in this context.
If the parent doesn’t move forward with gender-affirming care, that doesn’t make their child safe either — their child’s health may deteriorate. And not following a doctor’s advice on medically necessary care for a child can sometimes lead to accusations of medical neglect and child removal anyway. Child removal for failing to treat gender dysphoria has not been reported. It seems unlikely, given the importance providers place on consenting to both parents and their patients in this context. There is no safe alternative.
These catch-22s might not be surprising to those already involved with the family policing systems. To get or keep custody of your kids, you might be told you have to get and keep a job — while also being told you must never leave your child unsupervised. The system will not pay for child-care. If you are homeless, you may be told to find appropriate housing for you and your child. Housing will not be paid for by the system. If you have been abused, you might be told you have to stop “exposing” your child to domestic violence, as if you could control the actions of your ex. You might be told not to get arrested, when you have no home and it’s a crime to sleep outside, or when the police pick you up every time you leave your house just because you’re Black, trans, femme and walking down the street.
Where do these attacks come from?
The Texas attorney general and governor’s actions, as well as those of others attacking trans people, seem hypocritical only if you believe their propaganda. Supposedly champions of “parental rights” and “small government,” they want the government to kidnap trans children if their parents choose to love and support them. They are supposedly concerned about the potential risks of unproven treatment for young people, particularly treatment that affects fertility. Therefore, they want to ban care that young people understand and desire. proven long-term benefitsThey pose little risk to fertility, as well as to their health. They continue to support Intersex genital proceduresThese surgeries are performed on infants and young children who cannot understand or desire the intervention.
But it’s never been about parental rights or health concerns to Paxton, Abbott, or the many others like them. It’s only ever been about power. This quest for power takes the form of trying to advance political careers at the expense of those they don’t think will be able to do anything about it. It also takes the form of trying to create a world order — half remembered and half imagined — where people like them have even more control than they do already, and everyone else either knows their place or has been rendered extinct.
Although it is unprecedented in its details, this extreme attack against trans young people, families, and their providers is part of other efforts to impose or sustain that world order. It is a part of the web of criminalization and family policing woven into the fabric of government and society around the country, including in “progressive” states. It is a part of the more than a hundred anti-trans bills that have been introduced this legislative session and the several that passed last legislative session, some of them seeking to criminalize the care that many trans young people’s lives depend on, and almost all Trans young people are being targeted specifically. These bills are not all that are needed. MeasuresTrans life is not just to be eradicated or contained, but also (further), to criminalize abortion, homelessness & Black protest; decriminalize White-perpetrated Murder of Black Lives Matter demonstrators; inculcate schoolchildren white supremacist beliefs; and suppress the vote for Black, Indigenous, disabled and homeless people. It is also a part of a much larger attack on trans life, which shows up in myriad ways, whether it’s the latest hot take on whether trans people ought to exist on the pages of a major newspaper or the harassment that drove the only clinic for trans young people in Texas to close last year.
How to Take Action
Unfortunately, many larger LGBT organizations are not equipped to handle this type of emergency. That’s for two reasons.
First, for decades, mainstream LGBT organisations have excluded trans leaders. While they now work on trans issues, receive funding for trans communities, and don’t refuse to hire people who are trans, most of their boards and executive staff remain cisgender. They continue to respond with more urgency to threats that target cis LGBQ persons and continue to provide resources and resources. It is impossible to beat an anti-trans hate tide while sidelining trans leaders and offering up cis-friendly messaging about tolerance.
Second, these groups have, for decades, embraced prosecutors in the pretense of opposing hate crime and worked with family policing systems by championing the rights of same-sex couples who foster or adopt children taken from their families. You can’t beat the intensification and expansion of the family policing system without backing the leadership of the mostly Black womenWho have been fighting this system since years, much less supporting the other side.
Fortunately, however, large LGBT groups are not the only resource we have. These coordinated attacks against trans lives require that we strengthen connections among those who work for reproductive justice, racial injustice, and trans liberation. Cis parents of trans young people — and trans young people themselves — would also do well to deepen their connections with trans adults and elders, many of whom have deep experience navigating unsafe environments and severe barriers to care. As we fight for trans youth to be able get the care that they need, we should also be fighting for them. intersexfor disabled children to be free of unwanted medical interventions
We all need to be looking out for calls to action and guidance from trans-led groups in Texas, and should follow their lead. We should also give them money if possible. I recommend that you go to the Trans Justice Funding ProjectYou can check out their most recent news grantee list — it’s a treasure trove of information about small, trans-led organizations doing important work, organized by state or territory.
It’s also important not to spread misinformation, and to correct it when you hear it. Remember that people are the most important thing. The law is what you should believe matters. Trans health care is legal. No parent or provider breaks the law by supporting a trans young person’s access to care, in Texas or anywhere else in the country (a court has stopped the Arkansas trans health banSince going into effect so far Teachers and social workers are not required to report supportive families. If someone is charged with failing to report a supportive family or denying trans young adults care, they should be supported and defended.
Trans people need cis folks to educate and advocate for them.
Everyone should be watching the legislative session, and responding to attacks on trans communities — as well as attacks on Black and Indigenous people, cis and trans women, immigrants, pregnant people and those who can become pregnant, and others — by responding to and boosting calls to action from local folks from the affected communities. When considering whether to show up to rallies, contact elected officials, testify at a hearing, give money or otherwise get involved, consider what you would do if your life — or the life of your child — was on the line.
