Trans Rights are Human Rights
LGBTQ youth are over-represented in foster care, as a percentage of the population, making up roughly 30% of older children, recent studies have shown. They are more likely than their peers to be moved around repeatedly, end up in group homes and end up hospitalized or in emotional distress. And they are less likely than their peers to find a supportive adult in foster care.
In recent days, Texas Governor Greg Abbott and Attorney General Ken Paxton have declared that providing gender-affirming health care to transgender youth is “child abuse,” despite the long-held guidance of the medical community that gender-affirming care is vital to their physical and emotional well-being.
We’ve recently learned that the parents of a 16-year-old transgender girl are being investigated by the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services (DFPS)—potentially putting them at risk of having their daughter taken from them and placed in foster care. In addition, doctors, nurses, teachers, and others who fail to report instances of such “abusive procedures” to DFPS are subject to criminal penalties.
Transgender children—and the parents who love them—deserve better. They deserve to be recognized and supported, respected for the choices they make and loved for who they are. Most of all, they deserve to be together.
With thanks to ChildrensRights.org for bringing attention to this issue.