{"id":1487414,"date":"2022-05-22T08:46:52","date_gmt":"2022-05-22T12:46:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1487414"},"modified":"2022-05-22T08:47:00","modified_gmt":"2022-05-22T12:47:00","slug":"texas-supreme-court-child-gender-transitions-can-be-investigated-as-child-abuse","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/texas-supreme-court-child-gender-transitions-can-be-investigated-as-child-abuse\/","title":{"rendered":"Texas Supreme Court: Child Gender Transitions Can Be Investigated As Child\u00a0Abuse"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"float:left\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">22<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Ftexas-supreme-court-child-gender-transitions-can-be-investigated-as-child-abuse%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1487414&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><div><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/dw-wp-production.imgix.net\/2022\/05\/78EC777F-74FA-4CD9-BE8D-B2828E380B93_1_201_a.jpeg?w=1200&#038;h=800&#038;ixlib=react-9.3.0\" class=\"ff-og-image-inserted\" alt=\"image\" \/><\/div>\n<p class=\"p1\">In February, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) directed family protective agencies to begin investigating child gender transition treatments as child abuse. Last week, the Texas state Supreme Court <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailywire.com\/news\/texas-supreme-court-lifts-lower-courts-block-of-investigations-of-transgender-procedures-as-child-abuse\"><span class=\"s1\">ruled<\/span><\/a> that those investigations may continue, but they won\u2019t be compulsory.\u00a0<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">As The Daily Wire previously\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailywire.com\/news\/texas-democrat-judge-blocks-state-investigation-into-parents-permitting-16-year-old-to-undergo-gender-treatment\"><span class=\"s2\">reported<\/span><\/a>, on February 22, Abbott wrote a\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/gov.texas.gov\/uploads\/files\/press\/O-MastersJaime202202221358.pdf\"><span class=\"s2\">letter<\/span><\/a>\u00a0to the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services (DFPS), stating, \u201cThe Office of the Attorney General (OAG) has now confirmed in the enclosed opinion that a number of so-called \u2018sex change\u2019 procedures constitute child abuse under existing Texas law.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"p4\">Since the Department of Family and Protective Services is responsible for protecting children from abuse, the governor\u2019s letter was a directive for them to investigate any reported instances of these procedures in the state of Texas.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p4\">Abbott pointed out that Texas law has mandated reporting standards for professionals like doctors, teachers, and nurses, so this directive made it mandatory for those professionals to report the parents of children who are, as he put it, \u201csubjected to these abusive gender-transitioning procedures.\u201d He also said other state agencies have to investigate licensed facilities where such procedures are thought to occur.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">The announcement was met with pushback from LGBT activists, including the American Civil Liberties Union, the ACLU of Texas, and Lambda Legal, who <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailywire.com\/news\/aclu-sues-abbott-over-directive-to-investigate-transgender-procedures-as-child-abuse\"><span class=\"s1\">filed<\/span><\/a> a lawsuit over Abbott\u2019s direction on behalf of the family of a 16 year-old who claimed to be transgender.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p4\">A district judge then blocked an investigation by the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services into the parents of that 16-year-old, as well as any similar investigations<b> <\/b>throughout the state. That ruling was later upheld by a Texas appeals court, but last week, the Texas supreme court struck down that ruling, and reaffirmed that DFPS could resume the investigations.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">The big picture is that <span class=\"s3\">Texas DFPS can still investigate these cases, but they are no longer mandated to do so.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p4\">The state\u2019s high court decided that Abbott and Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton are allowed to share their viewpoints, but the child welfare agency is \u201cnot compelled by law to follow them.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"p4\">While the state supreme court struck down the lower courts\u2019 rulings, which would have blocked investigations statewide, they are still allowing an injunction against investigating that specific family at the center of the case.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p4\">This is a bit of a mixed outcome for both sides. Paxton has stated that his office sees this as a win, but LGBT activists have also said the same.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">The American Civil Liberties Union, ACLU of Texas, and Lambda Legal put out a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.aclu.org\/press-releases\/aclu-lambda-legal-statement-texas-supreme-court-ruling-partially-upholding-injunction\"><span class=\"s2\">statement<\/span><\/a> together, saying, it was \u201ca win for our clients and the rule of law.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">\u201cThe 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,\u201d the statement continued. \u201cThe court rejected the attorney general\u2019s arguments that our lawsuit should be dismissed and affirmed that DFPS is not required to follow the governor\u2019s directive or the attorney general\u2019s non-binding opinion.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">\u201cIt 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,\u201d the groups noted.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p4\">A recent <a href=\"https:\/\/www.summit.org\/about\/press\/polling-gender-identity-and-sexuality\/\"><span class=\"s1\">poll<\/span><\/a> by Summit Ministries and McLaughlin &#038; Associates found that, of the people who had an opinion on this topic, 90% said that \u201cMinors should be required to wait until they are legal adults\u201d\u00a0 before they go through \u201cpermanent gender alteration.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"p4\">Voters were also asked whether \u201cmedical professionals performing gender-altering procedures [should] be required by law to disclose the common, long-term medical and psychological impact of such procedures,\u201d and again, 90% said yes.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In February, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) directed family protective agencies to begin investigating child gender transition treatments as child abuse. Last week, the Texas state Supreme Court ruled that<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":498,"featured_media":2315279,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1487414","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1487414","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/498"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1487414"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1487414\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2315279"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1487414"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1487414"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1487414"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}