Texas is moving in a direction that sees the gender-affirming treatment of trans kids as child abuse. This includes more minor, completely reversible treatments. Parents giving their children this care can be investigated and may even be separated from their children (although both would be challenged in court). These statements by someone in power have put trans kids and their families in fear of what will happen next. 

Governor Greg Abbott of Texas has pushed for labeling any sort of treatment to affirm trans kids as child abuse. This being enforced could result in children being taken from their families for such harmless, reversible things as puberty blockers. Gender-affirming treatment can be a necessity for many trans kids and teens. Trans people aren’t choosing to be this way, and they just want to be comfortable in their own bodies. Many lives have been saved with such medical help. It is truly tragic to think that these parents and guardians have to be afraid to help their children feel better and happier with treatment. 

Although district attorneys of Texas stated that they had no plans of really enforcing these rules, this still has a huge negative impact on the trans children living in Texas. This shows that people in power are pushing for anti-trans directives, and most likely will continue to do so in the future. It´s hard to ignore that it could have been possible for any gender-affirming treatment of minors to be seen as child abuse in the state. It has gotten to the point where families with trans children are fleeing the state for their own safety. This is terrifying and the fear these poor people must be feeling is unimaginable. 

America is supposed to be known to be the land of the free and the home of the brave. How on Earth can we call ourselves that when things like this are still happening? American citizens fleeing their own state just for their own child’s safety is not what this country claims to stand for. The existence of non-cis individuals is not a political opinion.