SAN ANTONIO — As top Texas leaders push for certain gender-modification procedures affecting minors to be grounds for child-abuse investigations, Bexar County officials are joining those in other major metros in pushing back.
On Wednesday morning Joe Gonzales joined other district attorneys in submitting a joint response, calling the directives from Gov. Greg Abbott and Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton "cruel," "un-American" and "part of a continued onslaught on personal freedoms."
"We also want to be clear: we will enforce the Constitution and will not irrationally and unjustifiably interfere with medical decisions made between children, their parents and their medical physicians," states the letter, which was shared by the office of Dallas County DA John Creuzot on Twitter.
Creuzot and Gonzales were joined by Travis County DA Jose Garza, Nueces County DA Mark Gonzalez and Fort Bend County DA Brian Middleton in signing the letter. All five are Democrats.
In a brief Wednesday-evening tweet, San Antonio Mayor Ron Nirenberg also chimed in, saying "Trans rights are human rights."
Paxton on Monday issued a non-legally-binding opinion saying certain procedures should be treated as abuse, claiming Texas law counts puberty blockers and other medical procedures to change a child's sex as "abuse" under section 261.001 of the Texas Family Code.
Abbott took additional steps on Tuesday, directing the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services to conduct "prompt and thorough" investigations of any reported instances of Texas children under 18 being, as he put it, "subjected to abusive gender-transitioning procedures."
In his own statement released Thursday afternoon, Gonzales doubled-down on the sentiments shared in the joint letter, reiterating that he doesn't plan to prosecute guardians or medical providers for assisting with gender-affirming operations and procedures.
"The village of friends, family members, teachers and others who support LGBTQ youth will not be prosecuted for acts of love," Gonzales's statement reads, in part. "The LGBTQ youth in our community need to know they have our support, not further divisiveness."
Gonzales went on to write he also disagreed with the potential scenario of removing children from a home due to their having undergone a gender-modifying procedure, arguing that the logic of Paxton's opinion "directly contradicts decades of generally accepted medical care."
"Parents of Bexar County, rest assured, my office will follow the law," the statement reads. "We will not threaten to remove your children from your home or interfere in private medical matters for political gain."
During the regular legislative session last year, several doctors testified to the Legislature that sex-change surgeries are not performed on children younger than 18 years old.
Robert Salcido, executive director of Pride Center San Antonio, called Abbott's move "another attack on the LGBTQ+ community, particularly transgender youth, simply for political gain."
"Parents who affirm their children's gender-identity are doing so with the utmost love for their children, the exact opposite of what Paxton and Abbott are describing as child abuse," Salcido went on to say in a statement. "Being a kid is hard enough. We don’t need politicians making it even harder for kids who are transgender, denying them best practice medical care, and singling them out for increased bullying and harassment.