The American Civil Liberties Union, the ACLU of Texas and Lambda Legal and other civil rights groups are suing to block the Texas governor’s directive to investigate parents of transgender children for child abuse.
In February, Greg Abbott directed Family and Protective Services in his state to begin investigating gender confirmation procedures as “child abuse.”
In a letter to DFPS, Abbott enclosed an opinion from Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, in which Paxton says hormone therapy and gender confirmation surgeries “must be halted.”
Now, a lawsuit filed by the civil rights groups on Tuesday, asks a Texas state court to block that directive.
The lawsuit alleges that DFPS has started investigating parents of transgender children for child abuse.
It argues that Abbott filed the directive without proper authority, which violates state law and the state constitution.
It also alleges that it violates the constitutional rights of transgender children and their parents.
Governor Abbott, DFPS and its commissioner, Jamie Masters are named as defendants in the lawsuit.
The suit was filed on behalf of an employee of DFPS, who has a transgender child, her husband, and the teen herself, the ACLU said.
The suit was also filed by Slobodan Randjelović LGBTQ & HIV Project and the ACLU Women’s Rights Project.
“No family should have to fear being torn apart because they are supporting their trans child,” said Adri Pérez, policy and advocacy strategist at the ACLU of Texas, in a statement posted on the ACLU’s website.
