Top Texas Republicans have directed the state’s child welfare agency to investigate whether a mother who supports her 7-year-old child’s gender transition is committing “child abuse” — a move that has alarmed an already fearful community of parents of transgender children.
Gov. Greg Abbott declared via tweet Wednesday that two state agencies, the Department of Family and Protective Services and the Texas Attorney General’s Office, are looking into a dispute between divorced North Texas parents who disagree on whether their child should continue the process of transitioning from male to female, a path that could culminate, when the child is years older, in medical interventions.
In a letter Thursday to the state’s child welfare agency, First Assistant Attorney General Jeff Mateer declared that the child — who identifies as a girl, according to testimony from a counselor and pediatrician — is “in immediate and irrevocable danger.”
“We ask that you open an investigation into this matter as soon as possible and act pursuant to your emergency powers to protect the boy in question [from] permanent and potentially irreversible harm by his mother,” Mateer wrote, repeatedly referring to the 7-year-old as a boy. Mateer’s nomination to the federal bench was withdrawn in 2017 after revelations that he had called transgender children part of “Satan’s plan.”
A spokesman for DFPS said the agency’s “review of the allegations is already underway.”
The case’s path to public discourse began with the child’s father, Jeff Younger, whose blog has generated a maelstrom of right-wing outrage, including from U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, who called the child “a pawn in a left-wing political agenda.” Younger, who also appeared at a rally at the Capitol this spring, does not agree with his ex-wife that his child is transgender. In blog posts, he has claimed his child could face “chemical castration.”
In reality, experts say, the transition process for prepubescent children does not involve medical intervention; instead, it consists of social affirmations like allowing children to wear the clothes they like, employ the names and pronouns they prefer, and paint their nails if they choose. During puberty, a transgender child might, with the consultation of a doctor, begin to take puberty blockers, reversible drugs that can stop puberty and the gender markers that come with it, like a deepening voice, the development of breasts or starting a period. Later on, experts say, transgender young adults might explore the option of surgery.
In a court ruling Thursday that granted the parents joint custody, Dallas Judge Kim Cooks noted that there was never a court order for the child to undergo medical treatment, according to The Dallas Morning News. Indeed, the mother, Anne Georgulas, had requested that Cooks require mutual consent before the child underwent any treatment, the Morning News reported.
So yes, this is Greg Abbott and Ken Paxton and Ted Cruz and the rest getting involved in a marital dispute. Am I the only one who remembers when Republicans claimed to be about getting government out of people’s lives? However true that may have been once, it sure isn’t the case now.
This is nothing short of an authoritarian move by Abbott. The governor appoints the head of the Department of Family and Protective Services. How much faith are you going to have in the outcome of that investigation? Or the investigation by the AG’s office, under Jeff “transgender people are satan’s spawn” Mateer, for that matter? Oh, and I haven’t even mentioned yet that they made the child’s name public, so everyone who agrees with them can force their own opinion on her as well. How lovely.
And all because they disagree with this child’s mother about what the child is allowed to wear, and they had the power to stick their noses in. They won’t stop this child from being transgender, any more than they could stop her from being left-handed or allergic to peanuts. They will cause a lot of damage trying, though. We cannot vote them out of office soon enough.
Agree with you, let us throw in the father who is also to blame for bringing all that attention to his child.
The left has been winning on social issues for decades. Some of that has been good for America, I will admit. But this, I predict, will be be the left’s Waterloo in Texas. Consenting adults doing their own thing? Yes. Most Texans agree with that. Gay marriage? Yes! Absolutely the right thing to do. However, we have special protections for minors. That’s the whole reason we even HAVE a DFPS….to protect the most vulnerable Texans. Minors don’t get the same rights or responsibilities as adults. Want to talk about the original protected class? it’s minor children, especially very young children like this 7 year old boy.
Forcing this boy to play a female role, and forcing those around the kid to pretend he is a girl, is anathema to our goal to protect kids from harm. This is not just harming the boy, it’s harming his classmates, teachers, neighbors, and everyone else that is being forced to go along with this.
I hope this becomes a campaign issue here, because I just can’t believe that most Texans are OK with the mother’s plans.
I hate to drag this out again, but even liberal Houston thought the HERO was too much and voted it down. Do we really think voters are going to support the petticoating of this boy?
Bill, your approach would be fine if it didn’t result in damage to the child. However, the current science appears to support allowing the child to dress, behave, etc, as he/she wishes, so that the move to puberty doesn’t create issues that could lead to depression and suicidal tendencies.
If you believe that anything with humans is black and white instead of myriad shades of gray, you are wrong.
What is it with Trump lovers like Bill Daniels that they have to resort to lies to try to prove a point.
No one is forcing the seven year old child to do anything. If anything the father would be the culprit. And Bill contrary to some of your other posts no one is planning on castrating the child, you are aDrama Queen, just like your god Donald.
Manny,
Let me ask a question, and please, be honest. Let’s say this was YOUR grandson we were talking about. Would you be just as cheerful and supportive of the mother, let’s say it was your daughter in law?
How well do you think that would go over in a mostly Hispanic, Catholic neighborhood? Can you honestly say you would be OK if this was YOUR family?
I am specifically NOT disparaging you and there is no wrong answer here, it is a legitimate question, I will accept whatever you say without a comment.
When my sons were born, I told myself that I would love them no matter what. I don’t think I sounded cheerful that is just you being you.
Bill you would be surprised how accepting the Mestizo community is of those that are different. Mexico City has long accepted the gay community.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LGBT_rights_in_Mexico
I certainly won’t speak for Manny or Bill on this, but my decision to accept my child for whatever he/she chose to be is/was made before birth. It’s not up to me to tell her to be a girl or tell him to be a boy – that’s a genetic decision and lifestyle choice I have no say in. Allowing him/her to follow their own path, to dress like they want, eat the food they like, listen to the music that makes them happy, etc., comes with the unconditional love thing.
The Father of this child seems to be a real piece of work. No shocker he and his wife are estranged.
https://www.lifesitenews.com/mobile/news/7-year-old-whose-mom-tried-to-transition-him-chooses-to-attend-school-as-a-boy?__twitter_impression=true
Good news (or not, depending on your ideology, I guess). The young man has chosen to ‘be a boy.’
His body, his choice, right?