Texas attorney general Ken Paxton is threatening to hold the city of Austin’s leaders accountable for openly defying the state’s law prohibiting health-care providers from performing irreversible transgender medical procedures on children.
The Austin City Council voted overwhelmingly on Thursday to pass a resolution offering protections for minors who identify as transgender and instructing police not to enforce SB 14, a law signed by Republican governor Greg Abbott last year banning hormonal and surgical interventions meant to facilitate a minor’s gender transition.
“If the City of Austin refuses to follow the law and protect children, my office will consider every possible response to ensure compliance,” Paxton, a Republican, said upon the resolution’s passage. “Texas municipalities do not have the authority to pick and choose which state laws they will or will not abide by. The people of Texas have spoken, and Austin City Council must listen.”
Paxton emphasized that he “stands ready to act against any locality that adopts an ordinance or implements a policy or practice that provides, aids, or assists individuals or entities providing puberty blockers, cross-sex hormones, or surgeries to children diagnosed with gender dysphoria or otherwise seeking to medically change their biological sex.”
Councilmember Jose “Chito” Vela was the resolution’s lead sponsor and claimed SB 14 was causing children to go into hiding, according to a Courthouse News Service report.
“Austin should not be a party to that any more than we legally have to be,” Vela said when the resolution vote took place.
The resolution asserts “gender-affirming” transgender medical procedures are “lifesaving” for at-risk youth and cites leading medical organizations, without specifying any research to back up the claim.
One of the medical associations cited, the World Professional Association for Transgender Health, or WPATH, came under scrutiny in March when internal documents were released showing members privately expressed fears about the risk of pushing children into gender transitions.
Other medical organizations in favor of far-left activist positions on transgender procedures have taken their cues from WPATH, disregarding a lack of scientific evidence for the activists’ belief that gender transitions improve mental health.
A recent study from Finland directly undermined the activists’ claim and found suicides among gender-dysphoric youth are rare. Those who did commit suicide typically did so because of underlying mental health problems often paired with gender dysphoria, the study concluded.
A growing number of detransitioners have begun coming forward to discuss their experiences with gender transitions and the life-altering consequences they now face. Many of them say they were mentally disturbed teenagers when medical professionals convinced them to receive disruptive puberty blockers and surgical operations.
Texas is one of a handful of conservative states to place restrictions on transgender procedures for minors due to their experimental nature and severe side-effects, particularly for distressed teens rushed into gender transitions.