TRAVIS COUNTY, Texas — On Friday, a Travis County judge granted a second injunction against the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services (DFPS).
The injunction bars the department from implementing the agency's rule investigating families that provide gender-affirming care to their children as child abuse. Friday's ruling halts the agency from investigating two additional families with transgender children.
The court is still considering a request for additional relief to protect Texas PFLAG members with transgender children. It's all part of a lawsuit filed on behalf of PFLAG, an LGBTQ+ advocacy group, by several legal groups including Lambda Legal, the ACLU and several others.
"We are gratified that the Court reiterated that the DFPS rule is unlawful and changed the status quo for Texas transgender youth and their families. The Court recognized yet again that being subjected to an unlawful and unwarranted investigation causes irreparable harm for these families who are doing nothing more than caring for and affirming their children and seeking the best course of care for them in consultation with their medical providers. We are confident that the Court will continue to recognize those harms as it considers the injunction we have requested for PFLAG families, including the Briggles," a statement from the legal groups read.
This ruling is just the latest in a series of lawsuits seeking to end investigations into families providing gender-affirming care to transgender children after Gov. Greg Abbott ordered the DFPS to investigate these families for child abuse back in February.
In June, a Travis County judge issued a temporary restraining order that stopped the state from investigating parents as part of another lawsuit.
The Briggle family has been at the front of the lawsuits filed and was previously under investigation by DFPS for providing gender-affirming healthcare to their 14-year-old transgender son.
The ACLU and Lambda Legal have been working to block investigations into all parents of transgender children who are part of PFLAG.
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