Gregory Wayne Abbott (born November 13, 1957) is an American attorney who has served as the 48th governor of Texas since January 20, 2015. A member of the Republican Party, Abbott previously served as the 50th attorney general of Texas from 2002 to 2015. He is the third governor of any U.S. state to permanently use a wheelchair. He is also the first disabled governor in Texas history.
Fighting back
Emmett Schelling, TENT executive director, speaks outside the Travis County courthouse where a hearing was held to stop investigations targeting supportive families of transgender children, on March 2. (Erich Schlegel/AP Images for Human Rights Campaign) Advocates, allies speak out, push back against Abbott’s anti-trans directive TAMMYE NASH | Managing Editornash@dallasvoice.com The transgender teen and their family who last week sued Gov.
Greg Abbott and the Department of Family and Protective Services over Abbott’s anti-trans directive to DFPS to investigate families supportive of gender-affirming healthcare for their trans children for child abuse won a small victory in court this week when an appellate court denied Attorney General Ken Paxton’s appeal of a temporary restraining order halting the DFPS investigation into that family.
That ruling means that a district court hearing on whether to expand the TRO beyond the plaintiff family to cover all such families in the state, set for Friday, March 11, will proceed.
But more appeals are likely, and the legal battle will no doubt drag on, probably, for years. But the pushback against Abbott’s directive, and against the non-binding opinion Paxton issued to provide basis for the directive, is coming hard and fast and from all directions — from the White House to local universities to Texas families.
