Republican Texas Gov. Greg Abbott said that two government departments are investigating after a jury returned a verdict against Jeffrey Younger, who was petitioning for full custody of his son, in part to avoid his ex-wife’s plan to infuse him with puberty-blocking hormones.
Abbott waded into the controversy surrounding Monday’s verdict, which gave Anne Georgulas sole custody of James and his twin brother, Jude. Georgulas, who has been telling her son he was a girl since he was 3, supports giving hormones that would block his adolescence. She also wants the court to mandate that the boy’s father call James “Luna.”
“FYI the matter of 7 year old James Younger is being looked into by the Texas Attorney General’s Office and the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services,” Abbott said on Twitter Wednesday night.
FYI the matter of 7 year old James Younger is being looked into by the Texas Attorney General’s Office and the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services. #JamesYounger
— Greg Abbott (@GregAbbott_TX) October 23, 2019
The Texas governor’s tweet came minutes before Republican Texas Sen. Ted Cruz also tweeted about the case, calling it “horrifying & tragic.” He characterized such a procedure as “nothing less than child abuse.”
This is horrifying & tragic. For a parent to subject such a young child to life-altering hormone blockers to medically transition their sex is nothing less than child abuse.https://t.co/sl8VcBgfTD via @nypost
— Senator Ted Cruz (@SenTedCruz) October 24, 2019
The judge in the case had planned to issue a ruling on the specifics of the jury’s ruling Wednesday but delayed that decision until Thursday. Georgulas has asked the court to order her ex-husband to attend counseling that affirms transgender ideology as well as limits his overnight possession of the boys and makes visits supervised if he fails to affirm his son as a girl.
Character witnesses during the trial testified that, when in the presence of his father, James identifies as a boy. Georgulas nevertheless enrolled him in kindergarten as “Luna,” he uses the girl’s bathroom, and classmates believe him to be female.
There are no laws in Texas currently preventing a legal guardian from giving a minor puberty blockers or hormones.
