H-Town Progressive stands in solidarity with #transgender Texans against the reprehensible attack being levied by the Texas Attorney General and Governor. To be clear, the recently issued AG "opinion" is not legally binding, nor does it change any laws or constitutional rights. What it does do, however, is lay clear the genocidal intentions of the Texas Republican Party, which we should all take very seriously.
Paxton's screed uses patently fallacious pseudo science to form an argument that seeks to prevent transgender minors from receiving healthcare deemed medically necessary by their parents and doctors. In a legal move well known by autocrats throughout history, the Texas AG evokes the notion of parens patriae, pursuant to which the state would become the parent of the child in question because it disapproves of the parent's parental choices. All parents and doctors should be appalled by what amounts to a thinly veiled intention to impart by force fringe ideology onto all Texans.
On December 11, 1946 the United Nations General Assembly issued a resolution stating that "[g]enocide is a denial of the right of existence of entire human groups... [and that] such denial of the right of existence shocks the conscience of mankind, results in great losses to humanity in the form of cultural and other contributions represented by these human groups." This is precisely the intention of Ken Paxton, Greg Abbott and the Texas Republican Party, to deny the existence of transgender Texans, and thereby commit the international crime of genocide upon them.
Their intentions should shock all of our consciences.
So please join H-Town Progressive in showing your support for, and unyielding affirmation of, our transgender siblings. Speak out among your friends, family and coworkers.
Lawyers, volunteer your time to help with legal name and gender marker changes for Trans-Legal Aid Clinic Houston.
And give what you can to organizations that continue this ongoing fight:
Thank you to Eden Rose Torres for the art, please share far and wide.
