WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden on Wednesday forcefully criticized a Texas effort to investigate the parents of children receiving gender-confirming treatment, calling the directive from Gov. Greg Abbott “cynical and dangerous” while vowing to support the families in question.
Biden’s remarks, issued in a statement, were paired with newly released guidance from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, which directed state child welfare agencies to support LGBTQI+ youth when they seek gender-affirming health care. And it arrived almost simultaneously with a Texas judge’s decision to block the state from investigating parents.
“This is government overreach at its worst,” Biden said in a statement. “Like so many anti-transgender attacks proliferating in states across the country, the governor’s actions callously threaten to harm children and their families just to score politics points.
