JUAN SALINAS II
campus editor
juan.salinas465@my.tccd.edu
Last month, Gov. Greg Abbott published a letter warning local health agencies that providing gender-affirming care will be considered “child abuse” under Texas law.
If the legislation is implemented, it will require doctors, nurses and teachers to report the parents of transgender children seeking treatment to the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services. This legislation has a similar outline used for the heartbeat bill.
Over 60 businesses denounced it in a letter stating, “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 legislation is currently up in the air due to the Travis County District Court putting a temporary pause on the state from investigating parents of transgender youth with an injunction March 11.
NE student Jane Dubrow feels the legislation is attacking her right to exist.
“It’s ironic because conservatives talk about freedom, but if it applies to queer people, it becomes more complicated,” she said.
Dubrow has been fighting a five-year battle. She opened up to her parents about wanting to transition in 2015, but they felt like it wasn’t appropriate until she was 18.
Due to her parent’s wishes, this decision took a significant toll on her social life and mental health.
“Transitioning was not a decision I made overnight,” she said. “It took months and years to figure out if it was the right decision for me.”
After multiple therapy sessions and coming out to her parents multiple times, she convinced them to allow her to take the hormones she needed to finally transition.
“It was, without a doubt, a life-saving decision that has made me so much more happy and content with myself,” she said.
SE student Belinda Saenz feels the legislation is a microcosm of a larger problem with Texas.
“I think that these anti-trans laws and ideals being put into place are just reflective of a state that simply does not want anything to do with even the notion of the word ‘change,’” Saenz said. “It is not accepting, nor is it even trying to be understanding.”
She said that more than half of the transgender and non-binary youth have thought of suicide, and 70% deal with major depressive disorder and general anxiety disorder, according to the suicide prevention nonprofit The Trevor Project.
Saenz thinks that it is backward to think of the parents that support their children through this difficult stage in their life as abusers, and should instead be appreciated for their acceptance.
“Greg Abbott’s letter implies concern for children, but instead, comes from a bias against the transgender community,” the SE Gay-Straight Alliance wrote in a statement. “His writing encourages the outing of trans and queer children, which can put them in danger. Though he claims to want to protect the youth of Texas, his letter will have the opposite effect.”
