Toplines & Key Facts: 

• TX Attorney General sued by Seattle Hospital
• Texas and Washington laws in conflict over gender-affirming care
• Paxton has a history of targeting trans Texans

Our worst Texan of 2023 is at it again. 

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton is under fire for dogged intimidation tactics targeting queer Texans, this time outside of his jurisdiction in Washington. Back in November, he sent a subpoena to Seattle Children’s Hospital demanding they provide private medical records of Texans who allegedly traveled to Washington for gender-affirming care. His office wanted those documents by Dec. 7, and on that day they instead received a lawsuit from the hospital blocking the release of those records. Their suit, filed in Travis County, is backed by the new Washington Shield Law which “safeguards those seeking and providing reproductive or gender-affirming care.”

How did we get here?

Author of the Shield Law, Washington State Senator Drew Hansen, argued that “if states like Texas are going to be creative and aggressive in restricting [gender-affirming and] reproductive freedom, then Washington State will be creative and aggressive in fighting back.” Fighting back for them involved protecting gender-affirming care, including puberty blockers, hormone therapy and transition-related surgery. Furthermore, because of the prophetic shield enshrined in 2023,  the hospital does not have to comply “with a subpoena, warrant, court order, or other civil or criminal legal process for records.”

“Americans paying attention see Texas as a warning of tyranny,” — Kathleen Thompson, Progress Texas

Meanwhile in Texas, these lifesaving medical tools were banned in 2023. In fact, Paxton’s attacks developed only two months after SB 14 went into effect, which bans medical care for trans youth in Texas for the treatment of gender dysphoria. With laws like these, it comes as no surprise that Washington built in mechanisms to prevent overreach from states banning lifesaving care. All Texans still need safe places to receive healthcare, even if they have to cross state lines to get it.

Paxton’s history of persecution

Our Attorney General is known for more than his very public impeachment or upcoming securities fraud trial — he is notorious for attacks on queer Texans. Recently, he forced the closure of several clinics in Dallas, Houston, and Austin after scrutinizing their operations. His office also attempted to pull records from the Department of Public Safety inquiring about people who switched the sex on their drivers license. His attacks on private medical decisions are not exclusive to just gender-affirming care. Just last month he targeted Kate Cox, her doctor, her husband, and even her hospital to try and prevent her from acquiring an abortion in Texas. No one is safe from his witch hunts anywhere: the doctor’s office, the DMV, your own home, not even your own state.

On his reign of terror, Progress Texas Executive Director Kathleen Thompson said “We can end the misery in 2024, when we vote for candidates who support freedom to control our own bodies and futures. . .Progress Texas stands with LGBTQ+ Texans in their ongoing fight to exist, to self-expression, and community in the face of concentrated Republican assaults.”