Texas Families, Doctors and Advocacy Groups Sue to Block Ban on Gender-Affirming Care for Minors

A group of families, physicians and advocacy organizations filed suit against the State of Texas on Thursday, arguing that a new law restricting health care for transgender minors is discriminatory and violates the state constitution.

The law, Senate Bill 14, was signed last month and is set to take effect Sept. 1. It prohibits transgender children from receiving puberty blockers and hormone therapy. According to the complaint, it will have "devastating consequences for transgender adolescents in Texas." The case was filed in state district court in Austin. Besides the state, it names the Texas Health and Human Services Commission, the state attorney general and the Texas Medical Board as defendants.

The plaintiffs include several parent groups with five transgender children among them, the national LGBTQ+ advocacy group PFLAG, GLMA, a national organization supporting LGBTQ+ health care professionals, and three physicians licensed to practice in Texas. They are represented by the ACLU of Texas, the national ACLU, Lambda Legal, the Transgender Law Center, and the law firms Scott Douglass & McConnico LLP and Arnold & Porter Kaye Scholer LLP.

The complaint contends the law infringes on parents' fundamental right to make decisions about the care, custody and control of their children. It says Texas is "endangering the health and wellbeing of transgender adolescents" and violating the state constitution's equality guarantees by banning treatments that remain available to other young people. It also alleges the law deprives doctors of their vested property interest in their medical licenses and of their right to occupational liberty.

The plaintiffs want a temporary injunction blocking enforcement of SB 14 while the case proceeds, followed by a permanent injunction. The Texas attorney general's office did not respond to a request for comment.

The filing notes that courts elsewhere have blocked comparable laws in Arkansas, Alabama, Florida, Indiana, Kentucky, Missouri and Tennessee. NPR reported that a federal judge in Florida ruled last month that the state's measure would cause transgender youth irreparable harm. In Indiana, a federal judge blocked parts of the state's law, according to the Associated Press, after weighing evidence of risks to minors' health and wellbeing from gender dysphoria if such treatments could no longer be provided.

During a Thursday call with reporters, Emmett Schelling, executive director of the Transgender Education Network of Texas, said lawmakers have fostered a culture of fear and anxiety among trans people in the state. "The cruelty is the point," he said, adding that cruelty is "what's driving this legislation."

Alex Sheldon, executive director of GLMA, said the law is already having a chilling effect on physicians. Doctors, Sheldon said, are leaving Texas to practice where their duty to prioritize patient health is not undermined by punitive policies. "What will Texas look like when health care providers have left the state in droves?" Sheldon asked, warning that all Texans could struggle to access adequate care.

Paul Castillo, an attorney with Lambda Legal, said the case was brought in state rather than federal court because of the protections the Texas Constitution offers. In his words, it provides "stronger rights for parents, stronger rights in the guarantees of equality [and] not to discriminate on the basis of sex."