Texas sues Biden admin over requirement for LGBTQ-affirming foster care placements

The rule was finalized in December. Under it, to be considered a designated placement for LGBTQ+ and intersex children, the foster care provider must commit to establishing an environment that supports the child’s status or identity; and 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 facilitate the child’s access to age- or developmentally appropriate resources, services, and activities that support their health and well-being.

The rule doesn’t require any care provider to become a designated placement for LGBTQ+ and intersex children, nor does it penalize providers who don’t wish to receive this designation, but it does require that state and tribal child welfare agencies offer enough of these placements to accommodate the children who need them.

But Paxton isn’t having any part of it. He claims the rule “unlawfully conditions federal funding for foster care programs on the acceptance of ‘sexual orientation’ and ‘gender identity’ ideologies,” says a press release from his office. The Texas Department of Family and Protective Services will implement the rule, but Paxton says he’s concerned about its implications.

His lawsuit, filed Tuesday in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas, contends there’s no basis in law for the foster care rule. “The Final Rule imposes its new requirements without any statutory basis,” the complaint reads. “Title IV [the law governing foster care placements] does not address sexual orientation or gender identity, nor does it require special accommodations for those categories. Title IV’s anti-discrimination provisions do not include protections for sex, much less the derivative categories of gender identity and sexual orientation. Accordingly, the Final Rule is unlawful and violates the Constitution, and the Court should declare it unlawful, set it aside (i.e., vacate it), and enjoin its implementation.”

“The Biden Administration is trying to shoehorn gender identity into the statutes governing our Nation’s foster care system by requiring States like Texas to provide special treatment and special placements for so-called ‘LGBTQI+’ youth,” the complaint further alleges. The suit calls the rule a “proverbial gun-to-the-head.”

The administration “is attempting to hold the Texas foster care system hostage to force unscientific, fringe beliefs about gender upon the entire country,” Paxton says in the release, even though beliefs about the acceptance of LGBTQ+ people are far from fringe and are based in science. “The new rule directly violates federal law and threatens to undermine our vital foster care programs, putting children who need safe, loving homes at risk.”