The Texas Department of Health and Human Services has removed more resources for LGBTQ youth from a state web page on suicide prevention in the wake of a controversial directive from Gov. Greg Abbott targeting parents of transgender youth.
On Feb. 1 the web page in question featured a hyperlink, phone number and texting line for the Trevor Project, a crisis intervention and suicide prevention service for LGBTQ youths. However, NBC News reports that on Feb. 5, the section was removed. Three other prevention phone or text lines listed still remain.
Furthermore, a PDF with resources under "Parent and Youth Suicide Prevention" still contains a phone number for the Trevor Project, though less accessible. The file also doesn't state that the organization is LGBTQ-focused.
Texas officials have previously targeted LGBTQ-specific resources in recent months. In August, Department of Family and Protective Services (DFPS) officials removed a web page called "gender identity and sexual orientation" and a page for Texas Youth Connection, a program run by the agency, which included a link to the Trevor Project. To this day the page still displays an error message.
The Texas Youth Connection site also still displays the message: "The Texas Youth Connection website has been temporarily disabled for a comprehensive review of its content. This is being done to ensure that its information, resources and referrals are current."
This latest digital scrubbing follows a directive issued by the governor last week calling for DFPS to investigate the parents of minors receiving gender-affirming medical care for child abuse. Licensed professionals, including doctors, nurses and teachers, could be subject to criminal penalties for failing to report such procedures, Abbott wrote.
Since this order, at least three families with transgender children have been targeted for investigation by the state, according to the Houston Chronicle. On Tuesday, Lambda Legal and the American Civil Liberties Union filed a lawsuit on behalf of one of the families involved in the probe. The unnamed subjects of the investigation include a state Child Protective Services employee who is alleged to have sought gender-affirming care for the family's 16-year-old transgender daughter.
Last year Republican lawmakers made targeting transgender youth a top priority. In October, Abbott signed a bill that bans transgender youth from competing on sports teams that do not correspond with the gender they were first assigned at birth.
