Not content with persecuting transgender citizens, Republicans in charge of Texas law enforcement are itching to criminalize being the parent of a transgender child.
Anti-trans rhetoric in Texas has grown louder in the past few weeks. Attorney General Ken Paxton ... issued an opinion that likened gender-affirming surgery — a procedure that gives transgender people a body that aligns with their gender identity — to child abuse.Days later, Gov. Greg Abbott doubled down with a letter calling on professionals, including teachers and doctors, to report parents who give their children gender-affirming care. The letter added that there would be similar reporting requirements for the general public, and consequences for those who don't report.
Abbott's letter directed the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services and other state agencies to investigate certain gender-affirming services as child abuse.
Anti-transgender legislation has been tearing through "red states" like wildfire; so while the Paxton opinion and Abbott's letter do not carry the full force of law, it hardly seems like much of a stretch to imagine the Texas legislature taking this horrible idea and running with it.
Nor is it a stretch to imagine them modeling legislation after their infamous new anti-abortion law, inviting parties with no present legal standing to step in and sue the parents, the Uber driver who takes the family to the clinic, the receptionist who lets them in, and of course, all medical and counseling professionals along the way.
This in spite of recent studies which find that access to gender-affirming care significantly reduces the risk in transgender and non-binary youth of depression and suicide.
But after all, it's an election year, and beating up on transgender folks really brings out the Republican base.
Becoming more base every day.
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