Confusion And Terror Reign In Texas For Families Of Trans Teenagers

[Nevilledog]

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Sydney Bauer
@femme_thoughts
For @HuffPost I wrote about the last 72 hours in Texas and how families with transgender children are more terrified than ever because no one knows if CPS will be knocking on their door unannounced

huffpost.com
Confusion And Terror Reign In Texas For Families Of Trans Teenagers
Amid unprecedented attacks, including harassment from state officials, many families are dreading the next knock on the door.
7:46 PM · Mar 15, 2022

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/texas-transgender-students-fear-paxton_n_6230c8aee4b0fe0944dc693c

Families with transgender children across Texas received some much-needed relief this weekend, after a court ruled that the state’s Child Protective Services could no longer conduct investigations into whether gender-affirming care constitutes child abuse.

That relief lasted a few hours, until the state’s attorney general, Ken Paxton, opened his Twitter account later that night.

In a throwback to the previous presidential administration, two tweets undid the calm that families were granted from a district court decision that halted CPS from investigating families trying to support their children.

“It was so cruel to have just a couple of hours of micro-‘relief’ and then be immediately thrust back into that fear and uncertainty,” Katie L., the mother of a transmasculine nonbinary teenage son from the Houston area, told HuffPost.

“We are exhausted after fighting hard, feeling like we had some small ‘wins’ and then immediately getting kicked in the face by politicians with agendas,” she said.

*snip*

[LetMyPeopleVote]

1. As Texas targets trans kids, their families scramble to find lawyers

This stunt by Greg Abbott and Ken Paxton is hurting children and the parents who are now trying to find legal representation

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And lawyers who specialize in LGBTQ family law say the number of families reaching out in fear of potential child abuse investigations is unlike anything they’ve ever seen......

This latest wave of fear among parents of trans kids started two weeks ago, when Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton issued a legally nonbinding opinion equating certain gender-affirming medical treatments for transgender children with child abuse. Abbott followed up with a letter directing the state’s child welfare agency to open investigations into “any reported instances of these abusive procedures.”

Most gender-affirming care focuses on “social transition” — allowing a child to express their gender however they see fit. Some transgender children take puberty blockers, a completely reversible medical treatment that's prescribed for a wide range of situations beyond transition. Paxton and Abbott also cited concerns over gender-affirming surgeries that are rarely, if ever, used on children.

In a court hearing Wednesday, a lawyer for the state argued that the directive is not intended to mean that the use of puberty blockers or gender-affirming surgery is always abuse, rather that it could be used in an abusive manner.

[PortTack]

2. The judge who put an injunction in place needs to step up and tell them to f..king lay off

They think they are above the law, someone needs to show them they’re not!

[Solly Mack]

3. K&R

[IngridsLittleAngel]

4. Terror is right...

Because this is terrorism.

Should even one family be investigated after Friday's ruling, Abbott and Paxton need to be hauled into court and face serious consequences for defying a court ruling - the same way the rest of us would be if we were told something by a judge and went against orders.

No. I do not hold police and politicians and lawyers to the same standard as the rest of us... I hold them to a HIGHER standard. When you write the laws, when you're expected to enforce them... you are the last people who should be breaking them.

Lock Abbott and Paxton up.