The onslaught of laws in red states that target transgender Americans and their families should add mounting pressure for the U.S. Senate to vote and approve on an expansion to federal civil rights laws through The Equality Act.
Americans are granted protections through federal civil rights laws against discrimination based on race, color, national origin, sex, disability or religion. But those who experience discrimination because of their sexual orientation or gender identity cannot count on those protections and have become the target of conservative lawmakers.
Florida’s House of Representatives in February passed the Parental Right in Education bill, also known as the “Don’t Say Gay” bill, that prohibits teachers and school staff from discussing sexual orientation and gender identity.
And, perhaps the most alarming attack on LGBTQ youths and families, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott ordered state child welfare officials last month to investigate families where a child is receiving gender-affirming services. Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton followed with a legally nonbinding opinion claiming that parents who provide those services to their children could be investigated for child abuse.
“This is government overreach at its worst,” President Joe Biden said on Wednesday. “Like so many anti-transgender attacks proliferating in states across the country, the governor’s actions callously threaten to harm children and their families just to score political points. These actions are terrifying many families in Texas and beyond. And they must stop.”
Whether Abbott’s order was meant to score political points during an election year or not, the state’s child protection agency is taking his legislation seriously.
Among the first to be investigated was an employee of the state protective services agency who works on the review of reports of abuse and neglect, and also happens to have a 16-year-old transgender child. The mother was placed on administrative leave and was visited by an investigator from the agency asking for the child’s medical records.
On Tuesday, the American Civil Liberties Union of Texas and Lambda Legal went to state court to stop the inquiry and a state judge blocked Texas’ child protection agency from investigating the following day.
“We are terrified for Mary’s health and well-being, and for our family,” the mother said in a declaration filed with the suit. “I feel betrayed by my state and the agency for whom I work. … Not providing Mary with the medically necessary health care that she needs is not an option for us.”
The harm transgender children and their families are experiencing is frightening and it is real. For the protection of all Americans, The Equality Act must become the new and fair reality we all live under.
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