A new order from Texas Gov. Greg Abbott threatens to forcibly closet trans youth and imprison their parents. Abbott was pressured by right-wing figures including Tucker Carlson.
Right-wing media figures have spent years calling the affirmation of trans kids “child abuse” and asking the government to break up the families of trans people, particularly targeting a specific family in Texas and asking for the state to jail a supportive mother and take her trans child away. On February 22, their rhetoric seems to have influenced a dangerous policy, as Texas Gov. Greg Abbott directed state agencies to investigate parents and medical caregivers of trans youth for child abuse — despite overwhelming evidence that affirming and providing treatment to trans kids dramatically improves their quality of life.
Abbott’s order follows an opinion from Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, which stated that transition-related treatments, including puberty blockers, “can legally constitute child abuse.
Health care providers, including the American Academy of Pediatrics, support the affirmation of trans youth, including best-practice transition-related health care. Research shows that trans youth who have access to puberty blockers are happier and less likely to attempt suicide. Abbott’s order, if enacted with the weight of law, is effectively asking every adult around a trans child to be a government informant; his letter specifies “criminal penalties” for doctors, nurses, teachers, and seemingly the public at large who fail to report a visibly transitioning minor to the authorities. Even without the weight of the law, the directive could be devastating simply because it encourages teachers, social workers, and others to “out” trans youth and falsely accuse parents of child abuse.