The state attorney general, Ken Paxton, is on a roll. Lately he’s targeted endangered lizards, the State Fair of Texas, and transgender Texans of all ages — and this time he’s suing the Biden Administration to make sure there are no protections for LGBTQIA+ children in foster care (a group the Human Rights Campaign says are overrepresented in the system). 

In April, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services finalized a rule to make sure all children in foster care have protections against harassment and abuse regardless of where the children are placed, which includes all LGBTQIA+ children, who must have access to specially designated families.

Paxton also said the new rule “exacerbates the impact of a growing shortage of foster care providers” by forcing the state to find homes that support LGBTQIA+ programs. To be clear, that’s been an issue in Texas well before April and back to the late 2000s, according to the Dallas Morning News. In fact, several leaders have called Texas’ foster care system a crisis, and the Texas Tribune reports children have been subjected to sex trafficking, drugs, and assault.

According to the federal rule, for an LGBTQIA+ child to be placed in a home, that home must meet three criteria: 

  1. The provider must commit to establishing an environment that supports the child’s LGBTQI+ status or identity; and
  2. The provider must be trained with the appropriate knowledge and skills to provide for the needs of the child related to the child’s self-identified sexual orientation, gender identity, and gender expression; and
  3. The provider must facilitate the child’s access to age- or developmentally appropriate resources, services, and activities that support their health and well-being.

In effect, Paxton is arguing for the right to place Texas children in unsupportive homes where it’s possible a child would be forced to suddenly halt medical treatment — or one that has insufficient resources for the child’s circumstances. But a safe home for LGBTQIA+ children is apparently not a reasonable ask in Texas, so he’s suing the administration for “attempting to hold the Texas foster care system hostage to force unscientific, fringe beliefs about gender upon the entire country.”

But Paxton can’t dismiss the rule out of hand: Any state that doesn’t not follow it is vulnerable to funding cuts. 

Leslie Rangel, a first generation daughter of Mexican and Guatemalan immigrants, is deputy managing editor for The Barbed Wire. Her award-winning journalism is focused on issues of health, mental wellness,...