Texas' direction of a state agency to investigate gender-affirming care for transgender children as child abuse is a decision that "goes beyond the pale," according to the author of a California law that banned state-funded and state-sponsored travel to states with discriminatory laws against LGBTQ people.
Assemblymember Evan Low, a Democrat representing parts of Santa Clara County who authored A.B. 1887, told KCBS Radio in an interview on Wednesday afternoon that he was "heartbroken" to continually see what he views as justification for the legislation, as well as the list of states where California-funded travel is banned "continue to grow."
"You'd think that there are more pressing issues to deal with, but this goes beyond the pale," Low told KCBS Radio. "And it just completely is devastating to the psyche of a community in which they're already struggling to be accepted and loved for who they are."
Then-Gov. Jerry Brown signed Low's bill into law in 2016, and it took effect the following Jan. 1. Eighteen states, including Texas, are subject to travel prohibitions under the law.
California initially banned travel to Texas in 2017 after the state passed a law allowing child welfare agencies to deny adoptions to families based on "sincerely held religious beliefs," which could be used to refuse adoptions with prospective parents who aren't Christian, married or straight. The U.S. Supreme Court tossed Texas' challenge of California's law last year.
Republican Texas Gov. Greg Abbott on Tuesday directed the Department of Family and Protective Services to investigate "gender-transitioning procedures" as child abuse, a day after Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, also a Republican, defined gender-affirming care as child abuse under the state's laws. Abbott's direction said doctors, nurses, teachers and "all licensed professionals who have direct contact with children" could face criminal penalties for failing to report "such child abuse."
Doctors, the White House, the ACLU, Texas Democrats and transgender advocates have all strongly criticized Abbott's decision, which California Attorney General Rob Bonta – whose office is tasked with enforcing the state's ban on funding travel to others with discriminatory laws – labeled "state-sanctioned harassment in a tweet on Wednesday.
Low told KCBS Radio that Texas is "weaponizing" transgender children and their parents and putting them "through a political ringer for political gain" less than a week before the state's March 1 Republican Primary. Both Abbott and Paxton are running for re-election.
"What it means is that hatred is alive and well in the United States, and that just reaffirms our commitment to protecting those most vulnerable in our communities," Low, Chair of the California Legislative LGBTQ Caucus, said when asked what Texas' decision means for A.B. 1887. "And you can see it time and time again, from multiple proposals."
The Human Rights Campaign said last month that statehouses across the country introduced 147 pieces of anti-transgender legislation in 2021, compared to 79 a year prior. A Texas Senate bill defining gender-affirming care as child abuse died in a House committee last year, but a Republican representative told the Austin-American Statesman "this is a hill we are ready to die on."
"When you think about those that are being targeted, trans people are facing violence four or five times higher than the normal average," Low said, citing a 2021 study by the Williams Institute at UCLA School of Law. "And therein lies part of the challenge that exists for all of us. In California of course, we want to support policies and the principles of being inclusive, whereas ... you're seeing a number of states targeting members of our community for being who they are."
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