In July 2023, before the law went into effect, several families sued to block it from going into effect, saying it violates their parental rights. Several doctors also joined the lawsuit, saying the law interferes with their ability to practice medicine.
While other states saw their laws challenged in federal court, advocates in Texas chose the state court path in large part because of Texas’ robust protections for parental rights. “The Texas Constitution provides stronger rights for parents, stronger rights in the guarantees of equality … and much stronger rights with respect to the individual rights of autonomy,” Lambda Legal senior counsel Paul Castillo said when the lawsuit was filed. “Those decisions that rest with parents are at their apex when they are made in consultation with physicians who recommend this medically necessary care.”
In August 2023, state District Judge Maria Cantú Hexsel in Austin agreed that Texas had violated these parents’ rights. She wrote in her ruling that SB 14 “interferes with Texas families’ private decisions and strips Texas parents … of the right to seek, direct, and provide medical care for their children.”
The law went into effect Sept. 1 after the state Attorney General’s office appealed Judge Hexsel’s decision to the Texas Supreme Court.
Lawyers representing the families pointed out that every major medical association in the United States endorses gender-affirming care as a treatment for gender dysphoria, which is when someone can feel distress because their sex at birth doesn’t align with their identified gender. While state officials have argued that this law protects kids’ well-being by removing certain medical treatment options entirely, not governing how and when parents provide access to them.
It was unclear from the hearing whether justices intended to rule that the law is constitutional or send it back for further scrutiny. “It seems to be what the court is really asked to do is resolve what is ultimately a moral and philosophical question as opposed to a scientific question about the nature of men and women,” Justice Jimmy Blacklock, Gov. Greg Abbott’s appointee, said.
Meanwhile in other states, courts have ruled differently on similar laws. For instance, in 2020 Florida passed its own law restricting gender-affirming care for minors; however that law was blocked by a federal judge citing the American Academy of Pediatrics’ guidelines and the medical community’s consensus on gender-affirming care as medically necessary.
The future of countless transgender youth rests on this court adhering to facts, Constitution, and modern precedent.