AUSTIN, Texas — A Texas judge on Wednesday temporarily blocked a new state directive defining gender-affirming care for transgender children as “child abuse” in the case of a 16-year-old teenager.
The temporary restraining order, which only applies to the plaintiffs in the case, came the same day that the Biden administration issued new federal guidance about the directive and urged Texans affected by it to file civil rights complaints with the federal government.
“These announcements make clear that rather than weaponizing child protective services against loving families, child welfare agencies should instead expand access to gender-affirming care for transgender children,” President Joe Biden said in a statement released Wednesday evening. “In the United States of America, we respect the rights and dignity of all families.”
