LGBTQ+ advocacy groups plan to sue Texas if the state passes a law limiting access to life-saving health care for transgender youth.
On Tuesday, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), ACLU of Texas, and Lambda Legal announced plans to file a lawsuit if Republican lawmakers push through any of a handful of bills seeking to ban trans minors from receiving gender-affirming treatments like hormone therapy or puberty blockers. These legislative efforts represent an “unconstitutional attempt to deny transgender Texans the right to exist,” according to the ACLU of Texas.
“It is unbelievably cruel to see the Texas Legislature move a bill forward knowing it will profoundly harm thousands of transgender children,” said Adri Perez, the national legal nonprofit’s policy and advocacy strategist, in a press release. “[...] It’s time the Texas Legislature listen to those most impacted by discriminatory legislation and stop all attacks on transgender youth.”
The potential litigants took particular aim at House Bill 1399, which is scheduled for debate in the Texas House on Wednesday. Sponsored by State Representative Matt Krause (R-93rd District), the legislation would strip doctors of “professional liability insurance coverage” if they offer transition care to trans youth.
The legislation passed the House Public Health Committee in April by a 6-4 vote, with opinions divided along party lines. Krause claimed HB 1399 is necessary to prevent trans youth from making life-altering decisions before they are ready.
“We make policy after policy ... that does not allow those under 18 to make certain decisions,” he said during debate on the bill, in comments cited by the local newspaper Austin American-Statesman. “I don't know why we wouldn't do that on such a momentous and important area as gender identity.”
If approved by the Texas House, it would advance to the State Senate for consideration.
Brian Klosterboer, a staff attorney with the ACLU of Texas, said HB 1399’s passage “would violate parents’ fundamental right to provide the best possible health care for their kids, usurp doctors’ ability to provide critical and life-saving care, and unlawfully target and discriminate against transgender kids.”
“It also could leave taxpayers footing the bill for legislation that tramples on some of our most fundamental constitutional rights,” he said in a statement. “If lawmakers insist on moving this bill forward, we will see them in court.”
Lambda Legal added that HB 1399 is one of the “most extreme anti-transgender bills in the country.”
“[This bill] is already taking its toll on transgender youth and their parents,” said the legal advocacy firm’s senior attorney, Shelly Skeen, in a statement. “Lambda Legal has received calls from parents and their children who want to fight the bill if it passes. This is a prime example of unwarranted governmental overreach to solve a problem that does not exist.”
Krause’s bill is one of several, however, targeting transgender youth in the state of Texas. Of the more than 20 bills seeking to discriminate against members of the LGBTQ+ community put forward by its state legislature this year, at least six seek to block trans youth from receiving gender-affirming health treatment. The worst of these, Senate Bill 1646, would criminalize parents as “child abusers” if they allow their children to transition.
The bill’s sponsor, State Senator Charles Perry (R-28th District), told colleagues during debate that it was his mission to protect kids “who have not reached the maturity to understand what is being proposed nor the impact on them in perpetuity.”
SB 1646 has been met with vociferous criticism from LGBTQ+ community groups and parents of transgender youth, the latter of whom could potentially face a felony conviction under the law and lose custody of their children. According to the Texas Tribune, debate on the legislation stretched more than 4 hours, with the vast majority of speakers urging lawmakers to oppose the measure.
“I am in fourth grade now,” Kai Shappley, a transgender 10-year-old, told lawmakers during her April 12 testimony. “When it comes to bills that target trans youth, I immediately feel angry. It’s been very scary and overwhelming.”
Groups like the American Medical Association (AMA), American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), and American Psychological Association (APA) have joined in speaking out against bills like SB 1646. AAP President Dr. Lee Savio Beers said in a statement cited by the local CBS affiliate KWTX that transgender youth need “comprehensive, gender-affirming, and developmentally appropriate health care that is provided in a safe and inclusive clinical space.”
“If left unchallenged, there will be transgender teens in certain zip codes who will be unable to access basic medical care, and pediatricians in certain zip codes who would be criminalized for providing medical care,” Beers wrote.
The ACLU and Lambda Legal have also threatened to challenge laws seeking to criminalize transgender health access in the more than two dozen other states that have introduced similar legislation in 2021. This most recently includes Alabama, which is likely to debate a youth medical care ban in its State House in the coming days.
According to the Human Rights Campaign (HRC), more than 35 bills have been pushed in state legislatures this year to limit the types of health care that can be offered to trans minors. Just one state, Arkansas, has signed such legislation into law.
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