In Texas, transgender minors and their parents face probes, harassment at the hands of republican governor

Texas conservative Governor Greg Abbott is investigating parents of transgender kids under a controversial new order, according to a complaint filed Tuesday.

Governor Greg Abbott has called gender transition procedures for such minors "child abuse."  

"Sex change procedures" constitute child abuse under existing Texas law according to Abbott's letter to the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services (DFPS), published in the middle of an election campaign.

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Gender reassignment surgeries, he says, can result in sterilization and mastectomies. He also mentions puberty blockers, which slow the body's changes during adolescence.

The Republican governor wrote that the Department of Family and Protective Services has a duty to "investigate the parents of a child who is subjected to these abusive gender-transitioning procedures".

According to the court document, the mother of a transgender teen was suspended by her employer -- a Texas family services agency -- and visited by a Child Protective Services investigator who wanted to know whether her 16-year-old daughter was "currently transitioning from male to female."

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The family, supported by the influential US civil rights organization ACLU, sought to block Abbott's investigation and in general to invalidate his directive from February 22.

In their petition against the initial investigation, the unidentified plaintiffs claim that their family has suffered anxiety and fear and that their daughter has been "traumatised" by the prospect she could lose "access to the medical treatment that has enabled her to thrive."

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In addition to the family, a licensed psychologist with many LGBT and transgender clients joined the complaint, expressly worried about being forced to report those clients to authorities by the Abbott directive.

Transgender minors' care, as well as their participation in sports competitions and use of public restrooms according to their gender identity, is a hotly debated issue in the United States, where many conservative states have taken steps to adopt restrictive regulations.

(With inputs from agencies)