El Paso transgender teen’s family grapple with the newest developments in transgender care at the State level

EL PASO, Texas -- A Texas judge has temporarily blocked a state agency to continue investigating a family for child abuse after they provided gender-affirming care to their teen, but the battle is far from over and families around Texas are feeling the effects.

Lori Edwards' daughter, Emily, first expressed her discomfort with presenting as a boy when she was nine years old. At the time she had long hair and was getting bullied for it.

"As she's trying her hardest to be the best boy she can possibly be, society rejected her," Edwards said. "She wasn't boy enough they said."

Lori and her husband immediately sought medical advice. Emily started seeing a therapist and has continued to do so for the past six years.

At 11-years-old Emily started receiving puberty blockers. According to Lori they essentially hit the pause button on a child developing any further into a body they don't associate with.

"The child went from being incredibly anxious and worried to being confident and not being so terrified and starting to love her body again," Edwards said.

It's a reversible treatment, one Lori says is lifesaving for many transgender youth.

In a national survey by the Trevor Project 52% of all transgender and non binary people in the U.S. seriously contemplated killing themselves in 2020.

"Asking me to withhold those blockers to her and watch her develop an Adams apple and facial hair and go further into a male puberty and put her in a place where she wakes up every morning in a body that devastates her. That is child abuse," Edwards said.

At 13-years-old Emily started receiving hormone therapy. While some are irreversible, many components can be reversed.

Puberty blockers, hormone therapy and surgical interventions are all treatments the transgender community say provide gender-affirming care. They're also treatments medical organizations such as the American Academy of Pediatrics recommend for a transgender child's care. But both Gov. Abbott and Attorney General Ken Paxton say these treatments constitute child abuse under existing Texas law.

"By withholding this treatment from them they're absolutely increasing the chance they'll kill themselves," Edwards said.

Already parents in Texas have been investigated by the department of family and protective services for helping their child get treatment for gender transitioning.

The American Civil Liberties Union of Texas filed a lawsuit Tuesday to protect a family that was being investigated for child abuse after Gov. Abbott ordered for the department of family and protective services to investigate any family who provided gender-affirming treatments to their transgender teens.

District Judge Amy Clark Meachum temporarily blocked this investigation from continuing, but that doesn't stop the DFPS from investigating other families.

Meachum could have blocked these investigations statewide but instead has scheduled a hearing for March, 11.