The city of Austin, Texas, announced Wednesday that March 9 will be known as Transgender Youth and Family Safety Day after a directive issued by Gov. Greg Abbott was denounced as transphobic by critics.
“Austin Mayor Steve Adler proclaims March 9 as Transgender Youth and Family Safety Day,” the city’s Facebook post reads. “The City stands in solidarity with our LGBTQIA+ community and will protect their rights to seek care [and] feel physically and mentally safe in our community.”
“Austin should always be considered a safe place — a sanctuary — for transgender children and their families,” Adler tweeted Wednesday.
GROWING NUMBER OF STATES PURSUE TRANSGENDER SPORTS BANS
This morning I was joined by my colleagues in proclaiming March 9th as “Transgender Youth and Family Safety Day” in our city.
Austin should always be considered a safe place — a sanctuary — for transgender children and their families. #ATXCouncil pic.twitter.com/29F1w69wp0
— Mayor Adler | Get vaccinated! (@MayorAdler) March 9, 2022
The declaration came hours after a panel of three judges on Texas’s 3rd Court of Appeals upheld a lower court order halting an investigation of a transgender child’s parents by the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services.
Last week, Travis County Judge Amy Clark Meachum blocked the state from investigating the parents, but Attorney General Ken Paxton immediately appealed.
At the time, Meachum wrote that should an investigation continue, the anonymous parents “will suffer irreparable injury” because the mother, a DFPS employee, could “lose the ability to practice her profession and both Jane and John Doe could lose their ability to work with minors and volunteer in their community.”
“We grant appellees’ motion and dismiss the State Parties’ appeal for want of jurisdiction,” the appellate judges ruled Wednesday.
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The next step will be Meachum’s scheduled hearing March 11 to consider expanding the order across the state.
