AUSTIN, Texas — Parents of transgender children are in a state of fear as the courts decide whether investigating gender-affirming care as child abuse can continue.
A Travis County district court last week granted a temporary restraining order in a lawsuit brought by the ACLU of Texas concerning one family with a transgender teen. That prompted an appeal by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton. On March 9, that appeal was thrown out. It now remains to be seen if the court this coming Friday will issue a statewide injunction blocking Gov. Greg Abbott's directive concerning gender-affirming care for minors.
This all comes after Abbott directed the Department of Family and Protective Services (DFPS) to consider certain procedures as child abuse. The directive also requires doctors and mental health professionals to report gender-affirming care to the state and allows the public to report parents as well.
Spectrum News 1 contacted dozens of groups and organizations that said parents of transgender children are too afraid to speak to the press for fear of being investigated for child abuse, but as we found out, this fear goes far beyond parents.
Kingsley Felder is a drag king in Austin. The 30-year-old started doing drag about the same time he started transitioning.
“It gets you through the really hard times, when you’re looking in the mirror and hating everything you see,” Felder said.
While it took drag for him to accept himself, he’s been experiencing gender dysphoria since he was 5 years old. Feelings he repressed to the point it drove him to suicide.
“Anytime I felt that feeling, I would shove it away and pretend it didn’t exist,” he said.
Eventually those repressed feelings almost drove him to suicide. He says his daughter is the only thing that kept him alive.
“It killed me,” Felder said. “I wanted to die.”
While Felder didn’t get gender-affirming care until much later in his life, he wished could have. As a father, he hopes he can provide that care to his daughter, if she transitions.
“I am truly terrified for those individuals who are undergoing medical care at this point and some bigoted vigilant has decided their disagreement with this person’s medical needs is justification for them to destroy a family and destroy lives,” he said.
Human rights groups and LGBTQ organizations are currently fighting the governor’s anti-trans directive, in and out of the courtroom. The ACLU of Texas, along with Lambda Legal, represents the family and medical professionals who are suing the state for its investigation against them.
“Transgender Texans should be able to access this care, because it is life-saving care,” said Adri Perez with ACLU of Texas.
Attorneys say they have received many reports from families who say DFPS is already investigating them. Some families have even decided to move out of state for fear of losing their children.
“No family deserves to go through this,” Lambda Legal Senior Council Karen Loewy said.
Loewy says the DFPS has been investigating the plaintiffs in their case. The mother actually works for the department. She says the family is living in constant fear, which is why they filed the lawsuit anonymously.
“This is not a spotlight that they sought out in any shape or form. They are parents who are trying to do their very best for their kid,” she said.
This has also put incredible stress onto medical professionals who are treating trans children. The American Medical Association and the American Academy of Pediatrics support gender-affirming procedures.
Loewy says the doctor in the suit is a respected authority in treating children and this directive violates her licensing and ethical obligations.
“She is in this incredibly untenable position of not being able to do what the medical and mental health establishment know is in these kids best interest and is medically necessary for them without running the risk that she’s going to have to start reporting them,” she said.
Felder calls these investigations a “witch hunt.” He says these investigations aren’t just an attack on parents and their kids, it’s affecting the entire trans community.
“It’s just scaring everybody back into the closet,” he said.
CORRECTION: This story has been updated to correct the phrase "gender euphoria" to "gender dyshphoria." (March 9, 2022)