Texas Families, Health Care Workers Sue Over Transgender Care Ban

Multiple families of transgender minors and health care workers filed suit on Thursday to block a Texas ban on gender affirming medical care in the state.

The ban was passed earlier this year and is set to take effect in the fall. The ban, Senate Bill 14, bars medical professionals from providing puberty blockers, hormone therapy, and gender-related surgeries to transgender minors.

The lawsuit argues the law violates the Texas Constitution by discriminating against one group and notes that the same medical care can be provided for conditions that are not gender dysphoria.

"Both clinical experience and multiple medical and scientific studies confirm that for many adolescents, this treatment not only is safe and effective, but it also is positively transformative," the lawsuit states.

The plaintiffs are seeking an injunction to block enforcement of the ban before it goes into effect on September 1.

One family involved in the lawsuit has been separated over the new law. The mother, identified as Mary Moe, said she moved out of state so her child could continue receiving medical care, but her husband had to remain in Texas for work.

"I am heartbroken to have to take my children away from their home and their father, even temporarily. But I know that Texas is not a safe place for my daughter if this law forbids her access to this care," Moe said.

The American Civil Liberties Union of Texas has also signed on to the lawsuit as plaintiffs.

The Texas ACLU had promised to sue over the law in May.

The civil rights group accused Texas state legislators of being "hellbent on joining the growing roster of states determined to jeopardize the health and lives of transgender youth, in direct opposition to the overwhelming body of scientific and medical evidence supporting this care as appropriate and necessary."

"I'm here for it!" Rep. Jasmine Crockett (D-Texas) tweeted in response to news of the lawsuit.