Texas Attorney General Told to ‘Stay Out’ of Pro-Trans Lawsuit

Texas-based Judge Melissa Bellan has had enough of the state’s notoriously outwardly queerphobic Attorney General Ken Paxton‘s anti-trans rhetoric and meddling. In the midst of Pride Month, Paxton has been told to “stay out” of an important pro-trans lawsuit.

The Dallas County Judge decided that Paxton failed to put forward a convincing argument for the state’s right to weigh in on an agreement made between Children’s Medical Center Dallas and Dr. Ximena Lopez; in March, Lopez sued the hospital with a case that stated that the hospital violated anti-discrimination policies after deciding to stop offering puberty blockers and hormone therapy as a part of gender-affirming care in November 2021. The agreement was settled, allowing Lopez to continue offering these treatments until April 2023, when her lawsuit is set to continue.

Paxton offered his unwarranted and crude opinion on the matter, stating that gender-affirming care was “child abuse,” following suit of Governor Greg Abbott’s same stated opinion. According to his attorneys. Paxton’s opinion was merely to provide support for Governor Greg Abbott’s decision to direct the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services (DFPS) toward an investigation into parents who allow their trans children to access prescribed gender-affirming medical care.

Bellan has had enough of this bigoted argument, stating that there are no state laws in the entire United States—never mind the state of Texas—that even come close to ruling that providing proper care to children is child abuse. She further states that Paxton only offered his unwanted stance on this case to satisfy a political need, not an actual concern for the wellbeing of the children in the state of Texas.

Paxton has since been permanently removed from offering any form of opinion or further statement on this case (in a legal setting), a nod toward the LGBTQ community’s fight for equality in the world of healthcare and beyond.