The governor called on “licensed professionals” and the “general public” to report parents of minors who are receiving gender-affirming medical care.
The Texas Department of Family and Protective Services has opened an investigation into one of its own employees who has a transgender teenager after she was reported for alleged child abuse, according to a lawsuit filed Tuesday.
The suit follows a nonbinding legal opinion issued last week by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton stating that providing gender-affirming medical care — including puberty blockers and hormone therapy — to any person under age 18 is considered child abuse under state law. A day after Paxton’s opinion was made public, Gov. Greg Abbott released a directive calling on “licensed professionals” and “members of the general public” to report the parents of transgender minors to state authorities if it appears the minors are receiving gender-affirming medical care.