Texas Supreme Court Overrules Directive to Investigate Gender-Affirming Youth Care

On May 13, the Texas Supreme Court ruled that Governor Greg Abbott and Attorney General Ken Paxton do not have the authority to force the state’s Department of Family and Protective Services (DFPS) to investigate parents providing gender-affirming care to their trans kids for child abuse.

The ACLU, ACLU of Texas, and Lambda Legal express that the decision was a “win” for their clients and the “rule of law” in a joint statement.

“The Texas Supreme Court made clear that the attorney general and governor do not have the authority to order DFPS to take any action against families that support their children by providing them with the highest standards of medical care,” the letter reads.

Paxton caused a national stir among the transgender community in February when he issued a non-binding opinion that parents who allow their children to access gender-affirming care are violating their children’s constitutional rights. Abbott later called on licensed professionals, and members of the general public, to report instances of minors receiving gender-affirming care—equating it to child abuse—in a letter to the DFPS.

After Abbott authored the directive, a number of DFPS employees quit and some state attorneys refused to enforce it. A family also sued the state and won a temporary injunction in March which blocked the order from going into effect. Texas appealed, and the state Supreme Court lifted the statewide injunction, clarifying that the DFPS was only blocked from investigating the single family who sued.

Simultaneously, the court also made note that Abbott didn’t have the authority to issue the DFPS order to begin with.

With the new ruling, the Texas DFPS is back where it stood prior to the oder. The department is allowed to investigate families that it deems necessary to investigate, though it is not required to investigate parents providing gender-affirming care to their trans kids. (The family who sued is an exception, and the Texas DFPS cannot investigate them.)

The LGBTQ organizations also note in the joint letter that a part of Abbott’s order, requiring  mandatory reporters like teachers and pediatricians to report parents of trans children, also can’t take effect. The letter states that, while the court limited its order to the plaintiffs, it reaffirmed that “Texas law has not changed” and no mandatory reporter, or DFPS employee, is required to follow Abbott’s directive or Paxton’s attorney general opinion.

“By upholding the injunction, the court left in place the lower court’s decision that investigations based solely on the provision of medically necessary health care cause irreparable harm. It would be unconscionable for DFPS to continue these lawless investigations while this lawsuit continues, and we will not stop fighting the protect the safety and lives of transgender youth here in Texas.”