Sign up for The Agenda — Them’s news and politics newsletter, delivered to your inbox every Thursday.
In one of the first lawsuits of its kind, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton is suing a medical provider for allegedly providing gender-affirming care to minors after a recent state-level ban went into effect.
In a lawsuit filed in the District Court of Collin County on October 17, Paxton alleges that Dallas-area doctor May C. Lau treated 21 trans minors and prescribed them hormone therapy following the passage of Senate Bill 14, a state law passed in 2023 that prohibits medical practitioners from providing this form of life-saving care to trans minors.
According to a press statement from Paxton’s office filled with misinformation about the impacts of gender-affirming care, Lau “provided high-dose cross-sex hormones” and “allegedly used false diagnoses and billing codes to mask these unlawful prescriptions” after SB 14 had gone into effect. If found guilty, Lau could face the loss of her medical license.
Trans advocates have been warning for years that bans on gender-affirming care for minors like SB 14 will put doctors in an impossible place, forced to choose between providing life-saving medical treatment or their medical licenses, creating situations like the one outlined in this lawsuit.
“This is another straw in the haystack,”Andrea Segovia, policy director of Transgender Education Network of Texas, told The Texas Tribune. “Adding to that ultimate goal of not providing the care people want in their state.”
Paxton’s press release also falsely claims that the type of care Lau allegedly provided these minors has no proven benefits despite decades of consensus from medical associations and providers that have found the opposite. Research shows a direct correlation between minors accessing gender-affirming care and reduced rates of depression, anxiety, and suicide.
This isn’t the first time the Texas Attorney General has come after trans kids. The suit also falls in line with Paxton’s broader track record of attacking LGBTQ+ rights, as his office previously ordered the investigation of parents of trans children for “child abuse” in 2022.
Currently, 26 states have some form of ban on gender-affirming care. The U.S. Supreme Court is set to hear arguments on Tennessee’s similar ban on gender-affirming care for minors starting December 4 in the case of U.S. v. Skrmetti, which could set legal precedents as to whether states can legally block access to this life-saving medical intervention.
Get the best of what’s queer. Sign up for Them’s weekly newsletter here.
