In 2020, Republicans said they were the party of parental choice. When their voting base was convinced by Trump that COVID-19 was no big deal, the GOP said it should be a parental choice to protect children from a deadly virus. When CRT was the inaccurate, “hot button” word that their racist voters would love, the GOP said it should be “parental choice” to discuss black American history in schools. And when books about black people and LGBTQ people of all races and ethnicities were available in libraries, the GOP’s base cheered and called it a “parental choice” to protect their kids from hearing about racism.
BREAKING: A Texas judge just blocked Greg Abbott from ordering child abuse investigations of the parents of all trans youth in the state.
— No Lie with Brian Tyler Cohen (@NoLieWithBTC) June 10, 2022
Of course, none of this is about protecting children; it’s solely about convincing children to be bigoted against those different from them. The GOP insists that these bills keep children from harm, they apparently only mean straight, gender-confirming white kids.
Greg Abbott, who seems uninterested in actually improving conditions in his state, focusing on catering to bigotry around trans people and people of color (as well as those who are both). His latest days in office have been pushing a bill to have parents who support their children’ gender identity will get a visit from CPS for child abuse. He and the rest of the GOP have convinced their voters that small children are being given hormones and surgeries when that’s baseless and untrue.
That bill was shot down this week by a Texas judge who rejected the bill to harass the parents of trans youth.
According to The Associated Press, the judge said that:
‘I do find that there is sufficient reason to believe that the plaintiffs will suffer immediate and irreparable injury if the commissioner and the (Department of Family and Protective Services) are allowed to continue to implement and enforce this new Department rule that equates gender affirming care with child abuse.’
Twitter had a lot to say about the order protecting trans children. Read some of their comments below: