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Five families of transgender youth in Texas, plus three health care workers, are suing the state in an attempt to block its ban on gender-affirming care for minors from taking effect at the start of September. The American Civil Liberties Union of Texas and national legal groups are leading the lawsuit, which was filed late on Wednesday and names the state, the Texas attorney general and state medical board. Although the law has not gone into effect, transgender youth and their families have already been suffering, said Brian Klosterboer, a staff attorney at the ACLU of Texas. (Rummler, 7/13)

In the lawsuit filed Wednesday in Travis County District Court in Texas, parents of transgender children and teenagers between the ages of 9 and 16 argued that enforcing the law would cause “probable, imminent, and irreparable injuries” to their families. “Because my daughter might need puberty blockers in the next few months, I am temporarily relocating out of state with her and my other child. Her father will stay behind to continue working in Texas,” said Mary Moe, a plaintiff and the mother of Maeve Moe, a 9-year-old transgender girl. “We all intend to return and reunite in our home once it is safe for Maeve to receive this care in the state.” (Migdon, 7/13)

Transgender people in Florida are facing more restrictions to their medical care, even after two recent court rulings lambasted the state's approach to gender-affirming health care regulation. The state boards of medicine and osteopathic medicine issued new rules last week for trans adults to undergo hormone replacement therapy and surgery. The guidance is part of an informed consent process required by Senate Bill 254, which went into effect in May. (Varn, 7/13)

The Democratic governor in Kansas is defending changes in the sex listings on transgender people’s birth certificates in a federal court filing arguing that continuing the changes doesn’t violate a new state law rolling back transgender rights. An attorney for Gov. Laura Kelly’s office also argued in the filing this week that the new Kansas law is discriminatory and “represents a willful failure of the Kansas Legislature” to protect people’s rights. It took effect July 1 and defines male and female based on a person’s sex assigned at birth for any other state law or regulation, barring legal recognition of transgender people’s gender identities. (Hanna, 7/13)

Laws banning or restricting transition-related medical care for youths have been rolled out in 20 states in the past two years, mostly in conservative areas in Southern and Central parts of the country. Some bans haven’t gone into effect, and others have been temporarily blocked by courts (a lawsuit was filed in Texas state court this month arguing that the ban violates parental rights and discriminates against transgender youth), but some families have already started relocating to places with stronger LGBTQ+ protections. Many people who can’t move are planning to seek care in other states, where wait lists are growing, or face the prospect of having their child stuck in a body they don’t identify with. (Johnston, 7/14)