Harris County needs to be a safe place for all children and their loved ones to live.
But state leaders ordered that parents in Texas be investigated, or even charged, by Family and Protective Services for "child abuse" if their transgender children get gender-affirming counseling or care. That’s wrong.
Last year, special sessions in the Texas Legislature also focused on discriminating against transgender children, on top of a host of other extremist legislation. In response, Harris County passed a resolution opposing all anti-trans legislation and our County Attorney pledged not to go after the parents of trans kids who need gender-affirming care. Kids have it hard enough as it is — we have to support them, not marginalize them.
This fight is not over. Judge Lina Hidalgo is committed to continuing to advocate for the transgender community in Harris County and making sure it’s a place where everyone can thrive....
To trans kids here in Harris County, you belong here, and everywhere.
Onward,
Team Lina Hidalgo
QUOTE FROM ABOVE ARTICLE:
"My resolution basically states that the Commissioners Court opposes anti-transgender children bills, and will uphold the diversity and inclusivity of the county," Hidalgo said. "It seems to me that children face enough challenges as it is in school."
From the Minister [weekly column]
Dear folks,
Last week, following Texas Gov. Greg Abbott’s directive to state agencies to investigate parents providing gender-affirming health care for trans youth as guilty of child abuse, I and every other Unitarian Universalist clergyperson in Houston signed a public letter in opposition to this directive. Parents and health care providers who support their trans and nonbinary children with necessary health-care provisions are doing exactly the opposite of abusing their kids; hormone therapy and other gender-affirming care is literally life-saving, and parents who advocate for these treatments should be commended, not condemned. On Sunday, I shared a part of that letter. Here it is in its entirety:
We, the ministers of Unitarian Universalist congregations in the Houston area, are dismayed and angered that Governor Abbott has targeted the trans community in Texas by directing Family and Protective Services to begin investigating trans children and prosecuting their parents as child abusers. He has also threatened legal penalties against licensed professionals who do not report these individuals to the authorities.
We as faith leaders condemn the Governor’s attack on the worth and dignity of our fellow Texans, especially our youngest. Our acceptance of one another is an acceptance of the diversity of life. These are young people who have the courage to ask that their parents and health care professionals meet their medical needs as they know them to be. To mischaracterize and demonize their brave efforts, and accuse their parents of abuse, is unconscionable.
The American Medical Association has called state legislation to prohibit medically necessary gender transition-related care for minor patients "a dangerous intrusion into the practice of medicine." It has been shown time and time again, lives are saved by gender-affirming care; it allows trans young people to thrive. Additionally, the ACLU has pointed out, "No court anywhere in the country has ever found that gender-affirming care can be considered child abuse."
We are in solidarity with, and love, the Texas trans community, their families, and those friends and professionals who also support them. We are called to love and lift up one another, not slander and criminalize those who are different for personal gain during an election cycle.
In faith,
Rev. Sarah Prickett
Minister
Northwoods Unitarian Universalist Church
I am sure that this is exactly what Gov. Greg Abbott and Attorney General Ken Paxton wanted: to completely deny gender-affirming treatment for transgender youth by labeling it as child abuse and criminalizing it. I suppose that we are supposed to write this off as election grandstanding, but this is part of an effort by conservatives to completely eliminate this helpful treatment for all ages and thus somehow eliminate transgender people from Texas.
One thing that is certain is that the small number of people who suffer gender dysphoria as children, and then grow up to live their lives as the gender that is appropriate for them, is not going to change and go away.
You may think you have never met a transgender person, but I can assure you that you have. It would be much better for our world if we could help transgender children at a young age. While it may be true that not all those who start a transition finish it, let's allow that to happen and for those who decide later that it is not right for them to change. Most who have gender dysphoria, transition and later detransition do so because their family or society at large is not accepting. It does not mean that they did not feel that pain of being in the wrong body.
E. Gerald Hensel, The Woodlands
Regarding "Judge temporarily blocks CPS abuse investigation of treatment for transgender child," (March 2):
The recent actions of Gov. Greg Abbot, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, Attorney General Ken Paxton and other right-wing theocrats leave no doubt that they are the ones who are actually abusing children and parents in this state. Texas leads the nation in uninsured children and the incidence of child hunger in Texas is near the top of all states. Numerous children die every year due to the lack of resources and good leadership in our foster care system. Yet these hypocrites choose to use scarce resources to bully transgender children and their parents for seeking medical treatment that has been accepted by every major medical association as treatments that cut depression and suicide in this vulnerable group. Shame on these state leaders for recklessly using these families as political pawns in their cynical campaign strategies as they continue to try to force their narrow religious beliefs and far right ideology on everyone. Children's lives are at stake.
R.L. Reeves, Spring