Transgender people in Texas could be denied medical treatment if top official's lawsuit succeeds

Attorney General Ken Paxton says federal guidelines would force doctors to provide gender reassignment surgery to transgender people, violating their religious beliefs

Feliks Garcia
New York
Friday 26 August 2016 19:48 BST
<em>AP</em>
AP

Texas’ top prosecutor has filed a lawsuit that would allow physicians to deny performing gender reassignment surgeries on transgender patients based on their religious beliefs.

In a 79-page suit filed this week, Attorney General Ken Paxton challenged rules put forth by the US Department of Health and Human Services that prohibit gender identity discrimination by health care providers.

The suit is the latest in the top Texas official’s crusade against anti-discrimination rules related to transgender people. On Monday, a federal judge in Texas blocked federal guidelines from the Obama administration that called for US public schools to allow students use bathrooms that align with their gender identity.

Mr Paxton’s latest suit, filed on behalf of the Catholic hospital network Franciscan Alliance, claims that federal regulations implemented in May would force doctors to perform gender transition surgeries on children.

The suit argues that the HHS rule is in violation of the Religious Restoration Act because it forces medical organisations with religious affiliations to violate their religious beliefs or face cuts in funding.

“The Regulation not only forces healthcare professionals to violate their medical judgment, it also forces them to violate their deeply held religious beliefs,” the lawsuit says. “Tragically, the Regulation would force them to violate those religious beliefs and perform harmful medical transition procedures or else suffer massive financial liability.”

The federal rule does not offer a blanket exemption for religious organisations because those rights were covered by existing religious freedom laws.

Mr Paxton took particular offence to the meaning of the term “sex” as used in new federal regulations. In a statement about the lawsuit, he accused the Obama administration of “trying to redefine the law so that the term ‘sex’ means one’s ‘internal sense of gender which may be male, female, neither, or combination of male and female’.”

“But the President does not have the power to rewrite law,” he said.

Transgender rights advocates criticised Mr Paxton for continuing to discriminate against the transgender community while wasting time and money on numerous lawsuits to roll back non-discrimination protections.

“Attorney General Ken Paxton continues his assault on the very existence of an estimated 1.4 million Americans who are transgender,” said Chuck Smith, CEO of Equality Texas. “Paxton is now seeking to deny transgender people access to competent medical care. …

“The attorney general needs to stop this assault against an already marginalised population and stop wasting taxpayer money.”

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