Governor Abbott: investigate parents of trans kids for abuse

I am not sure if we discussed this or not, but Ted Cruz's daughter has came out as Bi. Hopefully he comes around soon & supports his daughter now that this is hitting him at home. Not holding my breath though.

And the harms just keep on comin'

"The Texas department of health and human services has removed suicide prevention resources for LGBT+ youth from its website.

NBC News reported that on 1 February, the department’s suicide prevention page listed four organisations “for people who are at risk of suicide” – The Suicide Prevention Lifeline, The Veterans Crisis Line, Crisis Text Line and The Trevor Project, a suicide prevention and crisis intervention charity for LGBT+ young people.

But by 5 February, The Trevor Project had disappeared. It was the only resource that was removed from the page.

The charity is still listed as a resource on a downloadable Youth Suicide Prevention PDF, but it is far less accessible, and is not marked as an LGBT-specific organisation.

Sam Ames, director of advocacy and government affairs at The Trevor Project, told NBC News that removing resources “because they are specific to LGBTQ youth is not only offensive and wrong, it’s dangerous”.

Ames continued: “We’re talking about a group of young people who are more than four times as likely to attempt suicide compared to their peers."

www.pinknews.co.uk/2022/03/03/texas-lgbt-suicide-prevention-trevor-project/

That's beautiful. The young are my hope. They get me through the dark times.

Excellent idea. TY for that.

❤️🌈🧡🌈💛🌈💚🌈💙🌈💜

And now I also did thanks to you!!

Investigations on temp hold....long explanations in the piece about how there are restrictions and different rules for these investigations. Workers are not allowed to discuss the cases with each other, not emails or any other ways... All very strange.

Judge temporarily blocks Texas investigations into families of trans kids
Eleanor Klibanoff, The Texas Tribune
March 11, 2022

"Judge temporarily blocks Texas investigations into families of trans kids" was first published by The Texas Tribune, a nonprofit, nonpartisan media organization that informs Texans — and engages with them — about public policy, politics, government and statewide issues.

State District Judge Amy Clark Meachum ruled Friday that the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services cannot continue to investigate parents who provide gender-affirming care to their transgender children for child abuse. The statewide injunction will remain in effect until the case is heard in July.

Meachum said there is a "substantial likelihood that" lawyers for the American Civil Liberties Union and Lambda Legal will prevail in getting this directive permanently overturned, calling Abbott's actions "beyond the scope of his duty and unconstitutional."
***
A supervisor for the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services testified Friday that the child abuse investigations into families of transgender children ordered by Gov. Greg Abbott are being held to a different standard than other cases.
***
I’ve always felt that, at the end of the day, the department had children’s best interest at heart,” she said. “I no longer feel that way.”
***
Abbott’s move to have families of transgender children investigated for abuse — made one week before the state's March 1 primary — followed a nonbinding legal opinion from Attorney General Ken Paxton.
***
Meachum granted a temporary restraining order last week, which halted this one case, but there are currently nine families under investigation for gender-affirming care, according to DFPS.

www.rawstory.com/texas-transgender-children/

"A number of high-powered global businesses called on Texas Governor Greg Abbott (R) to abandon the state's anti-LGBTQ+ initiatives.

Sixty-five companies including Apple (AAPL), Capital One (COF), Google, Ikea, Johnson & Johnson (JNJ), LinkedIn, Macy's (M), Microsoft (MSFT), PayPal (PYPL), and Yahoo signed the open letter. "Discrimination is bad for business" the headline read in an advertisement in Friday's The Dallas Morning News newspaper.

The letter was done in partnership with the Human Rights Campaign (HRC).

"Our companies do business, create jobs, and serve customers in Texas. We are committed to building inclusive environments where our employees can thrive inside and outside of the workplace," the letter said. "For years we have stood to ensure LGBTQ+ people — our employees, customers, and their families — are safe and welcomed in the communities where we do business."

"The recent attempt to criminalize a parent for helping their transgender child access medically necessary, age-appropriate healthcare in the state of Texas goes against the values of our companies," the letter said. "This policy creates fear for employees and their families, especially those with transgender children, who might now be faced with choosing to provide the best possible medical care for their children but risk having those children removed by child protective services for doing so. It is only one of several efforts discriminating against transgender youth that are advancing across the country.""

www.cnn.com/2022/03/13/business/businesses-sign-newspaper-ad-texas/index.html