Target: United States Attorney General, Merrick Garland
Goal: Protect the rights of Texas’ transgender youth and deem “child abuse” cases of gender-affirming medical procedures as a federal violation of rights.
Texas Governor Greg Abbott has issued a directive ordering the state’s youth protection agency to investigate instances of gender-affirming medical procedures as child abuse cases. The directive also asks the department to launch inquiries into parents and medical providers associated with such imperative procedures utilized by transgender youth.
In his letter to Commissioner Masters of the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services, Abbott wrote “-the Office of the Attorney General (OAG) has now confirmed in the enclosed opinion that a number of so-called ‘sex change’ procedures constitute child abuse under existing Texas law.” The order is a direct follow-up from legal opinion expressed only a couple of days earlier by Texas’ conservative Attorney General, Ken Paxton, which determined that transition related medical services can legally constitute child abuse. A district judge has already granted a temporary restraining order to pause a probe of this nature brought to her attention a week after the directive took effect.
This is not the first attempt by Texas’ Republican dominated legislature to limit the right to self-determination for the transgender community. In fact, the state has a very well recorded history of targeting LGBTQ+ citizens, similar unjust bills being proposed in 2017 (transgender exclusive bathroom regulation), 2021 (limitation on transgender students’ ability to participate in athletics) and now this 2022 directive.
Transgender rights are human rights. This type of rhetoric is dangerous and sets a dangerous precedent for state governments’ interference with freedom of expression. Sign below and demand the immediate dismissal of all such “child abuse” cases brought up to the Texas court, nationwide policy protecting the rights, on all fronts, of the transgender community, and further assessment of directives of these types as a federal violation of human rights.
PETITION LETTER:
Dear Attorney General Garland,
In 2021, Texas filed more anti-LGBTQ+ bills than any other state legislature, according to Equality Texas. In that same year, the GOP backed Texas Senate passed a bill limiting transgender youth sport participation consistent with their gender identity four times. This unceasing attack on the basic right to determine self has placed undue burden, mental anguish and stress on our fellow transgender citizens. The measures are also blatant exercises of discrimination and prejudice.
We support the LGBTQ+ community and demand for the immediate dismissal of any case of child abuse raised in Texas with a cited cause of gender-affirming medical procedures. We also call upon you to deem these types of legislations as federal violations to curb the frequency of their proposals and protect the wellbeing of the transgender population.
Sincerely,
[Your Name Here]
Photo Credit: Marc Nozell
762 Signatures