Mick Hartley

We know how this will play out in the gender-friendly world of US culture: more right-wing (sorry, extreme right wing) hatred of trans kids, who are really just looking for some lovely gender-affirming care.

Medical procedures on transgender youths should be considered “child abuse”, the governor of Texas has said, as he advised medical professionals and members of the public to report cases to the authorities.

Greg Abbott said that providing treatment such as puberty and hormone-suppressing drugs to teenagers should be a crime.

In a letter to the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services, Abbott told the agency to carry out “prompt and thorough” investigations into reports of “these abusive procedures”.

Parents of children who undergo the treatments should be investigated, Abbott said.

He said “all licensed professionals who have direct contact with children who may be subject to such abuse, including doctors, nurses, and teachers” should alert authorities to cases.gender-affirming care.

Failure to do so, Abbott said, could result in “criminal penalties”. Members of the public also have an obligation to report cases, according to the governor.

Abbott’s comments followed an opinion by Texas attorney general Ken Paxton, who said the procedures violate state law.

An opinion itself does not set new legislation, rather it provides an interpretation of existing laws.

Abbott’s letter provoked a swift backlash, including from the White House which said the comments were an attack on parents and posed a danger to transgender children.

“Families should have the right to seek healthcare that will enable young people to live healthy and fulfilled lives,” a statement said. “Conservative officials in Texas and other states across the country should stop inserting themselves into healthcare decisions that create needless tension between paediatricians and their patients.

“And no parent should face the agony of a politician standing in the way of accessing life-saving care for their child.”

Life-saving care?? Puberty blockers, hormone replacement therapy, surgery – all in the name of an irrational cult-like belief that children by the hundreds of thousands are somehow born into the wrong body. And of course the White House is right on board.

The man's right: it's straight-up child abuse. 

Rachel Levine, the assistant secretary for health for the Department of Health and Human Services, who is also transgender, said “gender-affirming care” is “essential and can be lifesaving”.

She added: “Our nation’s leading paediatricians support evidence-based, gender-affirming care for transgender young people.”

Texas has been accused of being hostile to transgender people.

In October Abbott, a Republican who is facing challenges from the conservative wing of his party for re-election, signed a bill banning transgender girls from competing in female sports at taxpayer-funded schools.

I know! Can you believe it? Banning men from competing in women's sports! Is there no limit to the depths these right-wingers will go?