More than 2,000 parents and advocates say they oppose Sen. Ted Cruz’s comments calling kids’ gender transition “child abuse,” according to a letter from the Human Rights Campaign to the Texas Republican.
The letter, written by the Human Rights Campaign, states that Cruz’s remarks in response to the custody case of a Dallas 7-year-old whose mother says is transgender are “harmful and medically unfounded.” It was signed by 2,014 people across the U.S., including at least 276 Texans, as of Thursday evening. The letter will be available to sign until around Friday afternoon, said Nick Morrow, deputy communications director for the HRC.
“Your comments accusing parents of transgender and non-binary children of ‘child abuse’ betrays your office, your responsibilities and all sense of decency,” the letter states.
Cruz’s office has not yet commented on the letter. Cruz shared a story about the Dallas custody case on Twitter in October, calling it “horrifying and 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,” he added.
The case began when the child’s mother sought to modify the joint custody of the child if the father didn’t affirm the child’s social transition from a male to female by allowing the child to wear girls’ clothing and go by a different name. Later, the child could decide to take medical steps such as puberty blockers, which temporarily pause puberty, with approval from a doctor.
The father began blogging year ago that he feared his child would be “chemically castrated” by his ex-wife. In an October joint custody order, a Dallas judge noted that was never part of the order. The mother had sought mutual written consent for any related medical procedures.
But Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick and Attorney General Ken Paxton have all urged the state’s child protective services to look into the custody case. Several state representatives also vowed to outlaw kids’ gender transition in the next legislative session.
The Human Rights Campaign decided to direct the letter to Cruz because of the “extreme nature of his comments” and his notoriety, Morrow said.
“Of all of the politicians who chose to target trans youth with their comments, Cruz has the largest national megaphone, and he used it to make one of the worst statements about transgender youth and their families,” he said.
The letter adds that Cruz’s comments undercut the medical consensus, including guidance from the American Academy of Pediatrics, the American Psychiatric Association and the American Psychological Association. The groups say that allowing a transgender or non-binary (neither female- or male-identifying) child to express their gender identity can reduce risks of suicide.
The federal Centers for Disease Control has also confirmed that transgender youth face a “disproportionately higher risk” of suicide.
“As parents of transgender and non-binary children, we’ve become all too familiar with the danger that can come if a child is unable to express their deeply-held gender identity,” the letter states. “Every parent has their own journey, just as every child has their own — it is not always an easy one and it is made much more difficult when our families are exploited for political gain.”
