As a parent of a transgender young adult, having been through his teenager transition as a supportive parent, I feel the acute pain of our Governor and Attorney General’s attack on our children.  My son is one of the most well adjusted and life-affirming people I know.  He has thrived in his life since his transition and has dedicated his life to service in healthcare and helping people thrive.  In the context of transgender children, the only abuse is not helping them be who they really are.

The Governor has taken this political campaigning to new lows as he wagers his candidacy on the backs of vulnerable children.  His crusade to disseminate disinformation about transgender people and their healthcare is a debased attempt to create a non-existent problem as an urgent moral emergency.  The letter he and the Attorney General signed is sad and predictable as they try to sow civil discord by amplifying lies about trans people to score political points.  Neither the Attorney General nor the Governor can change the law and nothing in their letter is legally binding. What is true is that no court in Texas, or anywhere in the country, has ever found gender affirming care to be child abuse.  And our Texas laws protect families from false reports of child abuse.

While these political circuses are performed on the most vulnerable amongst us for political gain, all that happens is fuel is thrown on the fires of  bias and discrimination which puts transgender children and adults at risk. Parents of trans children will feel this as a direct attack on their lives also.  Teachers will feel like their authority and agency is being corrupted.  The only response to these attacks is to turn our despair into action and vote for the removal of failed representatives in our state government. As a person of faith, I know that God’s creation, which includes people of various gender identities, should be seen or treated as sacred and dignified and holy.  Our governor and Attorney General have shown us who they are again, people of no recognizable faith who lead with a faith in divisiveness in hopes that our despair in them will keep us home on election day.  They wish us to be so divided that we forget that we are the government and cede our authority to their power.  Nothing about this is what Texas is about.