Texas judge blocks new law that would investigate parents of transgender minors

A Texas judge on Wednesday blocked the state from investigating the parents of a transgender teenager over gender-confirmation treatments, but stopped short of preventing the state from looking into other reports about children receiving similar care.

District Judge Amy Clark Meachum issued a temporary order halting the investigation by the Department of Family and Protective Services into the parents of the 16-year-old girl. The parents sued over the investigation and Republican Gov. Greg Abbott’s order last week that officials look into reports of such treatments as abuse.

Meachum wrote that the parents and the teen “face the imminent and ongoing deprivation of their constitutional rights, the potential loss of necessary medical care, and the stigma attached to being the subject of an unfounded child abuse investigation.”

Meachum issued the order hours after attorneys for both the state and the parents appeared via Zoom in a short hearing.

Paul Castillo of Lambda Legal, which joined the American Civil Liberties Union to file the suit, told Meachum that allowing the order to be enforced would cause “irreparable” harm to the teen’s parents and other families.

“It is unconscionable for DFPS to still pursue any investigation or inflict more trauma and harm,” Castillo said in a statement after the judge’s ruling.

The groups also represent a clinical psychologist who has said the order will force her to choose between reporting her clients to the state or facing the loss of her license and other penalties.