The Travis County District Court entered a second injunction against the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services (DFPS) and Commissioner Masters, barring them from implementing the agency's rule expanding the definition of child abuse to presumptively treat the provision of gender-affirming care as child abuse against two more familiesMirabel Voe and her son, Antonio; and Wanda Roe and her son, Tommy, according to a press release from Lambda Legal.
The July 8 ruling came in the lawsuit PFLAG v. Abbott, filed by Lambda Legal, the American Civil Liberties Union Jon L. Stryker and Slobodan Randjelovic LGBTQ & HIV Project, the ACLU Women's Rights Project, the ACLU of Texas, and the law firm of Baker Botts LLP.
The injunction bars DFPS from implementing the rule by investigating these families based solely on allegations that they are providing gender-affirming care to their adolescents, or taking any action in open investigations other than to close them so long as DFPS can do so without making further contact with the families. The Court is still considering the request for additional injunctive relief to protect the other clients, including the Briggle family and Texas PFLAG members with transgender children.
The legal organizations stated, "We are gratified that the Court reiterated that the DFPS rule is unlawful and changed the status quo for Texas transgender youth and their families. The Court recognized yet again that being subjected to an unlawful and unwarranted investigation causes irreparable harm for these families who are doing nothing more than caring for and affirming their children and seeking the best course of care for them in consultation with their medical providers. We are confident that the Court will continue to recognize those harms as it considers the injunction we have requested for PFLAG families, including the Briggles."
The news came one day after NBC News reported that Kai Shappley, an 11-year-old transgender activist in Texas, is leaving the state after having fought anti-trans bills there since she was 5.
"My mom sold our home & everything that doesn't fit in our car because the state I was born in is not safe for trans kids," Shappley tweeted recently. "Anyways… happy Independence Day to everyone who gets to celebrate that."
Her mom, Kimberly Shappley, had resisted moving for yearseven after the state considered more than 50 bills targeting trans people last year, and even after it began investigating parents for abuse if they were suspected of providing gender-affirming medical care to their kids.
The July 8 decision is at www.lambdalegal.org/in-court/legal-docs/pflag-v-abbott_tx_20220708_order-granting-voes-and-roes-applications-for-temporary-injunction-0.