A Texas judge on Friday blocked the state from investigating reports of gender-confirming care for transgender kids as abuse.
Gender-confirming care includes medical procedures transgender people undergo in order to transition, and may mean hormone therapy or surgeries. Republican Gov. Greg Abbott issued a directive last month that would compel the Department of Family and Protective Services (DFPS) to investigate parents who provide this care for their children.
District Judge Amy Clark Meachum issued a temporary injunction preventing the state from enforcing the directive.
The injunction broadens Meachum's earlier order blocking the state's investigation into the parents of one transgender teenager.xjmtzyw The American Civil Liberties Union and Lambda Legal sued on behalf of the parents of the 16-year-old girl over the investigation and Abbott's directive.
The lawsuit marked the first report of parents being investigated following Abbott's directive and an earlier nonbinding legal opinion by Republican Attorney General Ken Paxton labelling certain gender-confirming treatments as "child abuse."
DFPS said it has opened nine investigations following the directive and opinion.
The groups also represent a clinical psychologist who has said the governor's directive forces her to choose between reporting clients to the state or losing her licence and other penalties.
The governor's directive and Paxton's opinion go against the nation's largest medical groups, including the American Medical Association, which have opposed Republican-backed restrictions on transgender people filed in statehouses nationwide.
