Texas AG Asked Authorities For Names of Trans People Living In Texas, According to WaPo

[Webster]

GOP Texas attorney general’s office allegedly demanded a list of trans people in the state

Ken Paxton has attacked LGBTQ+ people for years. Why would he want a list of trans people in the state...

www.lgbtqnation.com

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton (R) asked the state’s Department of Public Safety (DPS) to give him a list of everyone who had changed the gender marker on their driver’s licenses and other government documents over the last two years, The Washington Post reported. The DPS found that 16,466 individuals had requested such a change on their various licenses and certificates between June 1, 2020 and June 30, 2022. However, the DPS told Paxton’s office that it couldn’t provide a full and accurate list of those who had submitted a court order requesting a gender change without doing additional research.

“It will be very difficult to determine which records had a valid update without a manual review of all supporting documents,” an assistant manager in DPS’s driver’s license division wrote in a July 22 email to colleagues.

The DPS ended up not providing the list but wouldn’t tell the Post which official from Paxton’s office requested the data. His office requested it a month after the state supreme court ruled that he couldn’t investigate families for “child abuse” for providing gender-affirming healthcare to their trans children. “Paxton’s office bypassed the normal channels — DPS’s government relations and general counsel’s offices — and went straight to the driver license division staff in making the request,” the Post wrote.

When the Post requested other emails from Paxton’s office about his request from DPS, Paxton’s office said no such records existed and Assistant Attorney General June Harden said, “Why would the Office of the Attorney General have gathered this information?” and “Why do you believe this is the case?” implying that they were denying that the office had ever asked for the data.

However, DPS emails repeatedly mention the request as having come from Paxton’s office, even though the DPS didn’t provide the publication any emails sent to them directly from Paxton’s office.

The story is concerning amid Paxton and Gov. Greg Abbott’s (R) larger campaign against trans individuals in the state. Trans advocates worried that Paxton would use the information to further persecute the already vulnerable trans community.

Shelly Skeen, a Dallas-based senior attorney at Lambda Legal, called Paxton’s DPS inquiry “a gross violation of privacy [meant to] target one group of people to fire up their base while transgender people are just trying to live their lives.”

Skeen said that some Texas courts seal or restrict access to gender changes for privacy reasons and to help trans people avoid harassment and violence.

In February, Abbott ordered the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services (DFPS) to investigate for child abuse any parents who allow their trans children to access gender-affirming medical care prescribed by their doctors. Abbott’s order was based on a non-binding opinion issued by the state’s Attorney General Ken Paxton earlier in the month calling gender-affirming health care a form of child abuse.

Paxton’s opinions and Abbott’s order both went against the best practices of pediatrics outlined by the American Academy of Pediatrics, the American Medical Association, and the American Psychological Association. These organizations consider gender-affirming medical care as necessary in many cases, noting it reduces mental anguish and suicide risk among trans youth.

Soon after issuing his order, several DFPS employees quit and some state attorneys refused to enforce it. The Texas Supreme Court ruled that neither Abbott nor Paxton had the authority to issue the order. Several families with trans children also filed a lawsuit against Abbott. The presiding district judge in the lawsuit issued a temporary restraining order, effectively stopping DFPS’s investigations while the court considers the order’s legality.

DFPS employees were told that they had to investigate any trans-related cases, whether they thought there was a reason to or not. Furthermore, DFPS employees were instructed “not to discuss these cases in emails, text messages, or any other form of writing that could provide a record of the investigation or ‘be pulled by media if requested,’” the brief added.

This order essentially directed the DFPS to hide any paper trail of their persecution of trans-supportive families. As a result, the press, other government agencies, and even the families being investigated couldn’t examine the department’s work. Abbott issued his order without following the requirements for creating new departmental rules, as outlined in the state’s Administrative Procedure Act, 16 DFPS employees wrote in a court amicus brief opposing Paxton’s order. If allowed to go into effect, the order would “irreparably harm morale and effectiveness at DFPS, which are already in crisis,” the brief added.

 

[PGen98]

Why do I feel like we've seen this happening to a group of people before...?

 

[Webster]

Why do I feel like we've seen this happening to a group of people before...?

The Amsterdam municipality maps out where the Jews live | Anne Frank House

www.annefrank.org

 

[PGen98]

The Amsterdam municipality maps out where the Jews live | Anne Frank House

www.annefrank.org

Oh that's right, it's what the Nazis did!

 

[Webster]

 

[PGen98]

I'm worried that this will spread to other states...I fear for my trans brothers and sisters.

 

[Nebulous]

I'm worried that this will spread to other states...I fear for my trans brothers and sisters.

Probably the bible belt, but we're probably safe over here on the west coast.

 

[PGen98]

Probably the bible belt, but we're probably safe over here on the west coast.

Let's assume this horribly misguided agenda carries on to 2024 and a republican presidency ensues again...how long before we're targeted with all sorts of nonsense?

 

[Nebulous]

Let's assume this horribly misguided agenda carries on to 2024 and a republican presidency ensues again...how long before we're targeted with all sorts of nonsense?

Hopefully a long while. Presidents don't have much power over what individual states can do.

 

[PGen98]

Hopefully a long while. Presidents don't have much power over what individual states can do.

That's true, and one of the fortunate parts of state legislature, but it's still a worrying trend we're seeing in states. So much anti-trans legislation aimed at making us seem like monsters, or outright shunning the LGBTQ+ community as a whole.

 

[Nebulous]

That's true, and one of the fortunate parts of state legislature, but it's still a worrying trend we're seeing in states. So much anti-trans legislation aimed at making us seem like monsters, or outright shunning the LGBTQ+ community as a whole.

Yeah things got a little too liberal, woke and PC for people there for a while, the reaction to that is everything going really far in the other direction. We should have eased people into it a little slower than we did.

 

[PGen98]

Yeah things got a little too liberal, woke and PC for people there for a while, the reaction to that is everything going really far in the other direction. We should have eased people into it a little slower than we did.

Yeah, can't have the whole apple in one go, gotta' take small bites. Such a shame the pushback is basically "get back in the closet or we'll make you." The hatred hurts, but the laws they're coming out with on false science or pure bigotry is disgusting!

 

[Nebulous]

Yeah, can't have the whole apple in one go, gotta' take small bites. Such a shame the pushback is basically "get back in the closet or we'll make you." The hatred hurts, but the laws they're coming out with on false science or pure bigotry is disgusting!

Well soon the older generation will die off and we'll be fine on that front. Give it another 20 years. Hopefully these old timers don't brainwash their children too hard before they go.

 

[PGen98]

Well soon the older generation will die off and we'll be fine on that front. Give it another 20 years. Hopefully these old timers don't brainwash their children too hard before they go.

Some have, sadly. Been met with a fair few folks my age or younger that just...hate. Just like their parents before them, they hate anything that doesn't line up with their values. I think we're definitely getting beyond that being the majority, though, which is great, but still a long way to go. I won't lie, I'm scared of the thought of going out there just being me and getting shot and/or killed for it. We're seeing it more and more and it's exactly what they want, that fear, but it feels like it's also becoming more prevalent. Then you have people like MTG and JK Rowling using massive platforms to spread hatred and misinformation making it so much worse. It needs to stop, they need to find their new target and soon, because it's heading down a familiar road we've seen before and that scares the hell out of me. Especially when you start seeing things like registries being brought up.

 

[Nebulous]

I won't lie, I'm scared of the thought of going out there just being me and getting shot and/or killed for it.

That depends entirely where you live. If you live in a large liberal city like San Francisco you can be yourself and go anywhere without worry. If you're in the middle of rural Tennessee, then that's another story.

 

[PGen98]

That depends entirely where you live. If you live in a large liberal city like San Francisco you can be yourself and go anywhere without worry. If you're in the middle of rural Tennessee, then that's another story.

Arizona is supposedly a blue state right now, but it so clearly isn't if you see the rhetoric around here. I live in North Phoenix, and it's very much Trump territory. They went HARD for Kari Lake here, that was a scary moment! We're luckily still, technically at least, blue, but that won't last for long. Maybe more of the younger generation comes into play by the next election, I certainly hope so, but there's deep conservative sentiment where I am right now. We had full on protests when the election took place, Trump convoys patrolling the streets.

 

[Nebulous]

Arizona is supposedly a blue state right now, but it so clearly isn't if you see the rhetoric around here. I live in North Phoenix, and it's very much Trump territory. They went HARD for Kari Lake here, that was a scary moment! We're luckily still, technically at least, blue, but that won't last for long. Maybe more of the younger generation comes into play by the next election, I certainly hope so, but there's deep conservative sentiment where I am right now. We had full on protests when the election took place, Trump convoys patrolling the streets.

Do you see yourself living there for the rest of your life? I'd say get the heck out of there when you can.

 

[PGen98]

Do you see yourself living there for the rest of your life? I'd say get the heck out of there when you can.

I'm here for as long as my mother needs me, that could be months or years at this point. There's really no way of knowing. But I would love to get away from here, go somewhere more...open...and feel less at risk.

 

[Nebulous]

I'm here for as long as my mother needs me, that could be months or years at this point. There's really no way of knowing. But I would love to get away from here, go somewhere more...open...and feel less at risk.

 

[PGen98]

Ehh...the new PM is anti-LGBTQ as are all of the new ministers. So...not such a great option anymore. Better than some states, absolutely, but...eek. Canada...maybe...