Biden slams 'dangerous' Texas trans children investigations

[LetMyPeopleVote]

Abbott's and Paxton's attacks on medical treatment for trans children are disgusting. President Joe Biden will fight this attempt to hurt these children

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President Joe Biden and the Department of Health and Human Services say they’re taking steps to support transgender children, families and health care providers in the wake of Texas’ recent plan to investigate some parents of transgender children. Biden condemned the directive made by Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, calling it “a cynical and dangerous campaign” to “score political points.”

Last month, Abbott directed the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services to investigate parents who get their transgender children gender-affirming medical care. Under the recommendation – not an executive order or official law – these parents could be investigated and convicted of child abuse.

In a statement Wednesday, Biden said:

“Like so many anti-transgender attacks proliferating in states across the country, the Governor’s actions callously threaten to harm children and their families just to score political points. These actions are terrifying many families in Texas and beyond. And they must stop.”

[IngridsLittleAngel]

1. Thank you, President Biden

I'm glad you're in our corner.

Let's go Joe!

[Eliot Rosewater]

2. GOP are the worst people on earth, and if that upsets anyone

get the FUCK out of that party or you ARE!

[LetMyPeopleVote]

3. The child welfare system already hurts trans kids. Texas made it a nightmare.

Abbott and Paston are intentionally hurting vulnerable children

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Last week, Gov. Greg Abbott (R) ordered Texas’s child welfare agencies to investigate parents whose children receive gender-affirming health care, and threatened them and professionals who fail to report it with criminal prosecution. This contradicts the position of the American Medical Association, the American Academy of Pediatrics and other medical associations, which strenuously oppose government restrictions on children’s access to these services. In some respects, Texas follows a nationwide trend: Republican lawmakers in at least 27 states have introduced legislation to limit transgender and gender-diverse youth from accessing gender-affirming medical care, participating in school activities and using restrooms that align with their gender identity.

In Texas, several bills to ban medical care for transgender children have failed, and so the government has turned to a more sinister tactic: interpreting the definition of child abuse to encompass gender-affirming medical treatment, and exploiting the child protection system to intimidate and control families. Though state officials claim to be acting to protect the health and safety of children, throwing them into the child welfare system only would endanger them. Child welfare authorities largely stand indifferent to the dehumanizing practices that endanger gay and transgender children in their care, and even implement rules that encourage those practices.......

Abbott’s move to punish parents who violate the state’s prescribed gender norms reflects the overall design of child protective services and its regulation of families. The directive’s veneer of benevolence, covering for its harmful objective, is not an aberration. Rather, it is a central feature of the child welfare system — a multibillion-dollar apparatus that controls marginalized families, especially those that are Black and Native, by taking their children away. Relying on vague state child neglect laws, investigators often deem conditions of poverty — lack of food, insecure housing, inadequate medical care — as evidence of parental unfitness. Only 17 percent of children enter foster care based on allegations they were physically or sexually abused. With the Texas directive, and in the child welfare system generally, what constitutes child abuse is subject to the interpretation of mandated reporters and caseworkers whose perceptions are influenced by racial and class biases.

Abbott’s deployment of the child welfare system will punish parents for affirming their children’s gender identities, not protect children. And this tactic should cause the public to question more broadly how other struggling families are harmed by a system that polices rather than supports them.

[LetMyPeopleVote]

4. Biden administration rips Abbott order on transgender care, vows to take action if needed

Joe Biden and his administration are doing what they can to protect trans children from Greg'a and Paxton's plans to punish and hurt these children

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In response to Abbott's directive, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services issued guidance telling all 50 states that it is illegal to deny health care based on gender identity and to restrict how doctors provide care because of a patient’s gender identity.

"The Texas government’s attacks against transgender youth and those who love and care for them are discriminatory and unconscionable," agency Secretary Xavier Becerra said Wednesday night in releasing the guidance.....

Becerra also announced several steps that his agency is taking to counter Abbott's Feb. 22 order that directed the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services to launch child abuse investigations over reports of minors receiving puberty blockers, hormone therapy and other gender-affirming care.

Those steps included:

• Distributing guidance directing all state child welfare agencies to protect and support LGBTQ youth, including by ensuring access to gender-affirming care.

• Distributing guidance on patient privacy to clarify that, "despite the Texas government’s threat, health care providers are not required to disclose private patient information related to gender-affirming care."

• Making additional resources available to help Texas families and health care providers targeted for investigation under Abbott's order.

[LetMyPeopleVote]

5. Here is more on the actions being taken by the Biden administration

The Biden administration cares about all children and these actions make me smile.

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[LetMyPeopleVote]

6. Ken Paxton (Texas) is suing Biden to prevent disruption of his cruel targeting of families of trans

This is bullshit and forum shopping. Amarillo is in a very conservative part of Texas

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[LetMyPeopleVote]

7. The Biden administration is going to use similar policies to protect vulnerable children in

The Biden administration is not going to let DeathSantis mistreat vulnerable young people

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Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona said yesterday that his department is monitoring the state of Florida for possible federal civil rights violations, just after Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) signed the state's "Don't Say Gay" bill into law.

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[LetMyPeopleVote]

8. DOJ Reinforces Federal Nondiscrimination Obligations in Letter to State Officials re trans youths

The Department of Justice sent letter to state officials concerning discrimination against trans youths. This letter makes clear that the actions being taken by Abbott and Paxton to deny gender affirming care to trans youths are illegal.
https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/justice-department-reinforces-federal-nondiscrimination-obligations-letter-state-officials

The Justice Department announced today that it issued a letter to all state attorneys general reminding them of federal constitutional and statutory provisions that protect transgender youth against discrimination, including when those youth seek gender-affirming care.

“The Department of Justice is committed to ensuring that all children are able to live free from discrimination, abuse and harassment,” said Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke for the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division. “Today’s letter reaffirms state and local officials’ obligation to ensure that their laws and policies do not undermine or harm the health and safety of children, regardless of a child’s gender identity.”

The letter advises states that laws and policies that prevent individuals from receiving gender-affirming medical care may infringe on federal constitutional protections under the Equal Protection Clause and Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. The letter also discusses federal statutes that impose nondiscrimination obligations, including Section 1557 of the Affordable Care Act, Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972, the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968, Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, and Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act.

The letter was issued on the International Transgender Day of Visibility in recognition of the contributions and accomplishments of transgender and gender non-conforming people, as well as their continued struggle to live free from violence and discrimination.

A copy of today’s letter can be found here. Additional information about the Civil Rights Division’s work to uphold and protect the civil and constitutional rights of LGBTQI+ individuals is available online at https://www.justice.gov/crt/lgbtqi-working-group. Complaints about discriminatory practices may be reported to the Civil Rights Division through its internet reporting portal at https://civilrights.justice.gov.