“There is a strong possibility that the Plaintiffs will prevail after a trial on the merits,” wrote Travis County District Judge Amy Clark Meachum, who previously issued a similar injunction against investigations by the Department of Family and Protective Services of two individual families who they had filed a lawsuit. Friday’s order expands the protection to include any Texas family that is a member of PFLAG. “Today, families of transgender children in Texas who are members of PFLAG National find refuge from Governor Abbott’s unjust order,” Brian K. Bond, Executive Director of PFLAG National, said in a written statement. The Texas Attorney General’s Office did not immediately respond to a request for comment from CNN. The same judge issued an order earlier this year blocking state child abuse investigations into gender-affirming care for any minors statewide. But the Texas Supreme Court ruled in May that the provision was too broad and should only apply to plaintiffs who have pending legal actions against the state. Gender-affirming care is medically necessary, evidence-based care that uses multiple approaches to help a person transition from their assigned gender — that which corresponds to the gender assigned at birth — to the gender by which he wants you to be known. Major medical associations have agreed that gender-affirming care is clinically appropriate for children and adults with gender dysphoria, which according to the American Psychiatric Association is psychological distress that can occur when a person’s assigned gender identity and gender at birth they are not aligned. Friday’s ruling comes about two weeks after 16 current and former Texas Department of Family and Protective Services employees, along with the Texas State Employees Union, filed a friend-of-the-judge brief in the state Third Circuit Court of Appeals. The filing urges the appeals court to uphold the lower court’s decision temporarily barring enforcement of the policy, despite an appeal by family services. The Court of Appeals has not yet set a date for oral arguments in the case. The report also says a series of departures has the organization on the “brink of collapse”. CNN’s Steve Almasy contributed to this report.
