Response to Gov. Abbott’s Attack on Trans Youth

We, the ministers of Unitarian Universalist congregations in the Houston area, are dismayed and angered that Governor Abbott has targeted the trans community in Texas by directing Family and Protective Services to begin investigating trans children and prosecuting their parents as child abusers. He has also threatened legal penalties against licensed professionals who do not report these individuals to the authorities.
 
We, as faith leaders, condemn the Governor’s attack on the worth and dignity of our fellow Texans, especially our youngest. Our acceptance of one another is an acceptance of the diversity of life. These are young people who have the courage to ask that their parents and health care professionals meet their medical needs as they know them to be. To mischaracterize and demonize their brave efforts, and accuse their parents of abuse, is unconscionable.
 
The American Medical Association has called state legislation to prohibit medically-necessary, gender, transition-related care for minor patients “a dangerous intrusion into the practice of medicine.” It has been shown time and time again, lives are saved by gender-affirming care; it allows trans young people to thrive. Additionally, the ACLU has pointed out, “No court anywhere in the country has ever found that gender-affirming care can be considered child abuse.”
 
We are in solidarity with, and love, the Texas trans community, their families, and those friends and professionals who also support them. We are called to love and lift up one another, not slander and criminalize those who are different for personal gain during an election cycle.