Texas AG Ken Paxton Urges Court to Revisit Injunction Stopping Departure Confirmation Investigations

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Attorney General Ken Paxton, in an appeal, is asking the courts to overturn an injunction preventing the state from conducting child abuse investigations in connection with the transitional health care for transgender youth. Paxton maintained that families belonging to PFLAG, an LGBTQ rights advocacy group, were not harmed by the Department of Family and Protection investigations.

A June lawsuit against the state, filed by the American Civil Liberties Union and Lambda Legal, which represents families of transgender youth, resulted in a temporary injunction that suspended DFPS investigations ordered by Gov. Greg Abbott earlier last year.

Paxton filed Friday in response to a request by the plaintiffs to leave the injunction in place in January. In his response, Paxton attempted to overturn the September injunction.

The Third Court of Appeals will determine whether the injunction will be effective either by hearing oral arguments from both parties or by simply ruling on the briefs filed. Until then, the injunction will remain in place, according to Karen Loewy, senior counsel and director of the constitutional law practice at Lambda Legal.

“The state’s arguments were nothing new and so far they have been rejected by every court that has heard them,” Lowy said in an email.

If the court sides with Paxton, it is unclear whether DFPS investigations into parents of transgender children will resume. The agency declined to comment on the lawsuit.

Leading health organizations across the country say transitional health care is the best way to provide care for transgender youth. This may include social transitions such as using a specific name or pronouns or wearing clothing that expresses gender identity. This may also include puberty blockers and hormone therapy. Surgery is rarely, if ever, performed on teenagers.

Paxton said the families did not suffer specific injuries as a result of these investigations, arguing that the parents did not lose custody of their children as a result of the investigation and therefore the claim is void.

“Thus, [families] were not injured and their claim is not mature until their injury becomes imminent or has already occurred,” Paxton wrote in his appeal.

PFLAG argued that the state interfered with their parental rights guaranteed by the Texas Constitution. Abbott’s directive directing the DFPS to investigate family cases has sparked fear among LGBT youth who fear the state will separate them from their parents. Abbott’s order even forced one family to flee the state.

Paxton also said the PFLAG, which has 600 members, should not be allowed to replace families that could be investigated for child abuse. He said individual families should be involved in the lawsuit to provide evidence of injuries from specific Abbott investigations.

Patrick Crimmins, a spokesman for the DFPS, said the agency received 16 reports for investigation through the hotline, 15 of which led to an investigation. Of these, 12 were closed, three are open – although the agency does not deal with them due to an injunction.

In February 2022, following Paxton’s non-binding legal opinion, Abbott directed the DFPS to investigate parents who provide transitional health care to their transgender children.

A month later, the family of a transgender teenager whom the DFPS was investigating sued the state, resulting in an injunction by a district judge barring the state from continuing those investigations or opening new ones. The Texas Supreme Court ruled that Abbott had no reason to direct the DFPS to investigate these families, but overturned the state’s injunction on procedural grounds.

In September, Travis County District Judge Amy Clark Meachum issued an injunction in connection with a June lawsuit blocking investigations by PFLAG members who provide transitional health care to their transgender children.

The offices of Abbott and Paxton did not respond to a request for comment on the story.

Sneha Dey contributed to this report.

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