Texas families have filed yet another lawsuit against Gov. Greg Abbott and the state’s controversial policy of investigating the parents of transgender children.According to The Texas Tribune, the lawsuit was filed by the American Civil Liberties Union and Lambda Legal on behalf of three families.The complaint seeks to prevent Texas from continuing to investigate any families active in P.F.L.A.G., an advocacy group for the parents and family members of queer and transgender youth.The lawsuit, adds CBS News, comes one month after the Texas Supreme Court permitted the state to investigate the parents of transgender children for abuse.“If it takes a court ruling to ensure that the law protects families who lead with love in support of transgender Texans, so be it,” said Brian Bond, executive director of P.F.L.A.G. National.A March ruling temporarily blocked Texas’s investigations. However, the Texas Supreme Court overturned the judgment, saying the lower court had overstepped its authority.CBS News suggests that this latest lawsuit marks the first time the parents of transgender children have reported actual scrutiny after Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton issued a nonbinding legal opinion labeling certain types of gender-affirming treatments as forms of “child abuse.”

A 2013 image of Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton. Image via Wikimedia Commons/user:Alice Linahan Voices Empower. (CCA-BY-2.0).

The Texas Department of Family and Protective Services said that it has opened at least nine investigations since the issuance of Paxton’s opinion.One of the mothers participating in the lawsuit said that her transgender son attempted suicide the same day that Gov. Abbott directed the state to consider gender-affirming treatments as potential child abuse.“[He] said that the political environment, including Abbott’s Letter, and being misgendered at school, led him to take these actions,” the lawsuit says.After the suicide attempt, the teenager was transported to an outpatient psychiatric facility, which then reported the family for abuse after learning that the child had been prescribed hormone therapy.The family, adds The Texas Tribune, remains under active investigation.Another of the families involved in the lawsuit expressed disappointment in the state’s decision to investigate parents for simply supporting their children.“I am offended and hurt that my state government wants to make it unlawful for trans youth like me to be ourselves, and that DFPS, the governor and the attorney general are willing to persecute families like mine simply for loving and supporting their trans children," the family said in a court filing.Arkansas and Tennessee have similar rules against gender-affirming therapy; the Arkansas law has since been blocked by a judge and is under appeal.

Sources

Lawsuit [Lambda Legal Link]More families of trans teens sue to stop Texas child abuse investigationsNew lawsuit filed over Texas trans family investigations