Gender-affirming medical care can continue at Children's Medical Center Dallas for at least another year.
At the outset of this year, Children's Medical Center Dallas told Dr. Ximena Lopez that it was shutting down her GENECIS Clinic that it has been running in conjunction with UT Southwestern.
Dr. Lopez sued Children's in an effort to continue providing gender-affirming care, such as puberty blockers and hormone therapy.
Dallas County Court Judge Melissa Bellan had originally agreed to a 14-day temporary restraining order that had been set to expire Thursday.
But now that's being extended by quite a bit.
"We have all agreed that this injunction is going to be in place," says Attorney Charla Aldous of Aldous\Walker in Dallas, who's among the lawyers representing Dr. Lopez pro bono, "and we said until the date the court sets a trial, and that trial now is set for April of 2023."
Aldous says Dr. Lopez filed her lawsuit reluctantly.
"Dr. Lopez did not want to sue UT Southwestern, her employer, or children's, where she practiced medicine," Aldous says. "And she had been told that this was based upon a call from the governor's office and some legislators who pressured the institutions to take this measure."
Aldous says the injunction is great news for families of transgender children.
"We are thrilled that these families and children who have been persecuted and marginalized by politicians are going to get the lifesaving, in many instances, care that they need, at least for about a year," says Aldous.
Lopez is not seeking any money from Children's; she's merely seeking the ability to continue running the GENECIS Clinic.
"The fact that politicians are trying to marginalize them further than they already have been, I find it absolutely repulsive," Aldous says.
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