Amber Briggle had hoped inviting Paxton to dinner might soften his views about transgender children. Now, the family is under investigation after he issued an opinion equating gender-affirming medical care with child abuse.
directing the state’s child welfare agency to investigate “any reported instances of these abusive procedures.”While most gender-affirming care focuses on “social transition” — allowing a child to express their gender how they’d like — some transgender children take puberty blockers, a completely reversible medical treatment that's prescribed for a wide range of situations beyond transition.
The Briggle family said in their statement that a CPS caseworker interviewed them and their children and inspected their house.“We showed her all the food in our cabinets, the kids’ artwork on the walls, the toys, books, and games in the family room … The gardens and trampoline in the backyard. The beds piled with blankets and stuffed animals,” they said in the statement. “It was impossible for her not to feel the love in our home.
The investigator told them they were “clearly doing something right,” according to the statement. But the investigation remains open. “We are the family you would want to place a foster child with, not the family whose children should become foster kids themselves,” they said. “And yet, the government is attempting to rip our family apart because we love our children unconditionally. Is this who we are, America?”filed by the American Civil Liberties Union of Texas and Lambda Legal has managed to block one of these investigations from proceeding with a temporary restraining order.
“We need you to not normalize this state terrorism through your silence. Don’t just wring your hands. We need you to draw a line right here,” they wrote. “It is not acceptable that some Americans have to flee their homes to secure their civil rights. Stop telling us to move. Help us.”