After the Texas House and Senate approved a measure to ban child gender mutilation treatments, the American Civil Liberties Union of Texas and other leftist groups announced plans to file a lawsuit against the legislation.
The ACLU of Texas, the ACLU, Lambda Legal, and the Transgender Law Center released a statement claiming that the newly passed Senate Bill 14 will ban “transgender youth from accessing medically necessary health care” and said they would sue to block the legislation.
SB 14 by State Sen. Donna Campbell (R–New Braunfels) would protect children from being chemically castrated by puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones and from receiving mutilative surgeries to “transition” them.
Both the House and Senate passed the bill, and after senators approved minor changes made by House lawmakers, the legislation now waits for Texas Gov. Greg Abbott to sign it into law.
When presenting the legislation to House members, State Rep. Tom Oliverson, who sponsored the measure in the House, condemned medical interventions for gender-confused children and categorized the problem as a mental health issue.
“We don’t treat mental health disorders with surgery,” said Oliverson. “We treat mental health disorders with mental health treatments.”
The ACLU of Texas and other leftist groups claimed that medical procedures are necessary for the well-being of gender-confused children.
Texas Senate Bill 14 bans the only evidence-based care for gender dysphoria for transgender people under 18 and aims to strip doctors of their medical licenses for providing their patients with the care they know to be medically necessary. Texas lawmakers have ignored the warnings of transgender youth, their families, and the medical establishment about the harms of this law.
The organizations went on to condemn Texas lawmakers for passing the bill and promised to sue over SB 14.
“Transgender youth in Texas deserve the support and care necessary to give them the same chance to thrive as their peers. Medically necessary health care is a critical part of helping transgender adolescents succeed in school, establish healthy relationships with their friends and family, and live authentically as themselves. We will defend the rights of transgender youth in court, just as we have done in other states engaging in this anti-science and discriminatory fear-mongering.”
Despite this opposition, Abbott promised to sign SB 14 when it reaches his desk.
“In the state of Texas, if you’re under the age of 18, you can’t get a tattoo, you can’t buy cigarettes, and so many other things, but people think that they should be able to make a decision to permanently alter their sex organs. That’s just outrageous,” said Abbott. “In Texas, we believe that cutting off a child’s sex organs is child abuse, and it’s gonna be treated that way by law,” Abbott told Fox News.
On social media, the Texas Family Project condemned the LGBT activist groups for supporting child gender mutilation procedures.
“The @ACLUTx is threatening to sue in order to block life saving legislation (SB14),” wrote the organization. “Texas will not back down when it comes to defending our kids.”
