Judge temporarily blocks Texas child-abuse investigations into transgender care

AUSTIN, Texas – A Texas judge issued a temporary restraining order Friday that prohibits state child-abuse investigations into a group of families that are allowing doctors to prescribe gender-affirming medical care to their transgender adolescents.

State District Judge Jan Soifer of Travis County halted investigations for 14 days before the next step, a hearing on whether a longer-lasting injunction should be issued against the state Department of Family and Protective Services.

Soifer's order came in response to a lawsuit filed Wednesday on behalf of PFLAG, an LGBTQ advocacy group founded in 1973, and three Texas families with transgender children. PFLAG (Parents, Families, and Friends of Lesbians and Gays) is the first and largest advocacy organization for LGBTQ people and their families with more than 250,000 members, according to the group.

"PFLAG is asking the court to stop DFPS from investigating families simply for providing their children with medically necessary care," reads a document on PFLAG's website titled PFLAG v. Abbott FAQ.

Under the terms of the judge's order, investigations into the three families must stop, and other families can halt investigations by notifying Child Protective Services that they are members of PFLAG.

"All dues-paying members of PFLAG in Texas are considered party to this case," the FAQ document says.

PFLAG has 17 chapters in Texas, according to the organization, and members have historically participated in local meetings and events, educational opportunities, Pride celebrations, workshops, panels and family programming.

“We are relieved that – at least for now – the threat of a child abuse investigation is no longer hanging over the heads of PFLAG families here in Texas,” Paul Castillo, Lambda Legal senior counsel, said in a statement.

PFLAG was founded as Parents, Families, and Friends of Lesbians and Gays. In 2014, the group started going by just the acronym "to accurately reflect PFLAG members, those PFLAG serves, and the inclusive work PFLAG has been doing for decades," according to the group's website.

Abbott faces multiple lawsuits

Wednesday's lawsuit, PFLAG v. Abbott, is the second legal challenge that's been filed against Texas state officials over Gov. Greg Abbott's directive to investigate as child-abuse the best practice medical care for transgender youth.

An earlier lawsuit, Doe v. Abbott, was filed in the immediate aftermath of Abbott's February order, and seeks to prevent DFPS from starting any investigations into parents who work with medical professionals to provide gender-affirming care to their children — not just families who are PFLAG members.

A different Travis County judge issued an injunction blocking the abuse investigation into the "Doe" family and their transgender daughter.

A final decision on Doe v. Abbott, which was filed by the ACLU, Lambda Legal, ACLU of Texas, is still pending.

STATE SUPREME COURT RULING: Texas child abuse investigations for gender-affirming care stymied by state Supreme Court ruling

PFLAG LAWSUIT: New lawsuit seeks to block Texas from treating transgender care as child abuse

The state of Texas appealed State District Judge Amy Clark Meachum's March 11 temporary injunction, which resulted in a split decision by the Texas Supreme Court last month that kept the injunction in place only for the Doe family.

The Texas Supreme Court ruled that other investigations can resume, but only if child welfare investigators are presented with a case alleging actual child abuse, not Attorney General Ken Paxton's opinion regarding child abuse.

In an opinion siding with the majority of the court, Senior Justice Debra Lehrmann said Texas Department of Family and Protective Services rules prohibit the department from investigating reports where the "only grounds" for the purported abuse are "facilitation or provision of gender-affirming medical treatment."

The Texas Supreme Court decision showed justices oppose enforcement of the directive from Abbott and Paxton, said Stephen Sheppard, former dean of St. Mary's School of Law in San Antonio.

"Every member of the Texas Supreme Court has demonstrated a very intense scrutiny of the procedure sought by the Texas Attorney General," Sheppard said. "None of them seem happy with the Texas Attorney General for a variety of reasons, and those reasons have generated different opinions."

PFLAG v. Abbott came after child abuse investigations resumed into several families that sought medical care to help adolescents deal with gender dysphoria, the distress caused when a person's physical characteristics don't match their gender identity.

Brian Bond, executive director of PFLAG National, praised Soifer for protecting the families who sued and every other Texas member of his organization.

“That families will be protected from invasive, unnecessary and unnerving investigations by DFPS simply for helping their transgender children thrive and be themselves is a very good thing,” Bond said. "However, let’s be clear – these investigations into loving and affirming families shouldn’t be happening in the first place.”

Adri Pérez, policy and advocacy strategist at the ACLU of Texas, also celebrated the judge's temporary restraining order.

“This is now the sixth time in recent months a Texas court has ruled in favor of transgender youth and their loving, supportive families,” Pérez said in a statement, calling it "senseless" for the state to continue "pushing forward these baseless investigations" and criticizing Paxton for "wasting state resources by filing reckless appeals in his campaign to target transgender Texans.”

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY NETWORK: Texas judge blocks child-abuse investigations into transgender care