Prompted by Abbott primary challenger, Texas agency removed webpage with suicide hotline, other resources for LGBTQ youth

In late August, one of Gov. Greg Abbott's primary challengers, Don Huffines, accused Texas' child welfare agency of "promoting transgender sexual policies to Texas youth" under a section of its website titled "Gender Identity and Sexual Orientation." "These are not Texas values, these are not Republican Party values, but these are obviously Greg Abbott's values," Huffines said in a widely circulated video on Twitter. The webpage published by the Department of Family and Protective Services linked to a suicide prevention hotline and other resources "dedicated to helping empower and celebrate" young LGBTQ people. Within hours, the webpage was gone. So was the entire website for the Texas Youth Connection, a division of Family and Protective Services that steers young people to various resources, including education, housing and those on its LGBTQ page as they prepare for life after foster care. It was replaced by a message that states, "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." Abbott, who appoints the department's commissioner and nine-member council who develop the agency's rules and policies, did not respond to a request for comment. Patrick Crimmins, the department spokesman, said the review "is still ongoing" but declined to answer questions seeking more detail about why the website was removed or whether it had anything to do with Huffines. But Family and Protective Services communications obtained through a public records request show that agency employees discussed removing the "Gender Identity and Sexual Orientation" page in response to Huffines' tweet, shortly before taking it offline. Thirteen minutes after Huffines' video went up, media relations director Marissa Gonzales emailed a link to Crimmins, the agency's communications director, under the subject line "Don Huffines video accusing Gov/DFPS of pushing liberal transgender agenda." "FYI. This is starting to blow up on Twitter," Gonzales wrote. Crimmins then queried Darrell Azar, DFPS' web and creative services director, about who oversees the page. "Darrell - please note we may need to take that page down, or somehow revise content," he wrote. Azar said the webpage came from the department's Preparation for Adult Living program, which provides services for older teens - typically those 16 and up - who are placed in foster care by the state. The program has posted "content related to LGBTQ for as long as I can remember," Azar said, but the page condemned by Huffines is "only a few years old." He said all content on the Texas Youth Connection website was approved by Debra Emerson, a longtime employee who serves as the agency's director of permanency, family and youth services. In a statement, Huffines claimed credit for the Texas Youth Connection website's removal. "We aren't surprised that state employees who are loyal to Greg Abbott had to scramble after we called their perverse actions out," said Huffines, a Dallas businessman and former state senator. "I promised Texans I would get rid of that website and I kept that promise." Ricardo Martinez, chief executive of the LGBTQ advocacy group Equality Texas, said LGBTQ kids are disproportionately represented in foster care and "face truly staggering discrimination and abuse." He also pointed to a survey by the Trevor Project - the nonprofit that operated the suicide prevention line linked to on the now-deleted website - that found LGBTQ youth who reported ever having been in foster care were almost three times more likely to also report they had attempted suicide within the last year, compared those who didn't spend any time in the foster care system. "The state is responsible for these kids' lives, yet it intentionally removed a way for them to find help when they need it the most," Martinez said. "This action is unconscionable, and it reminds us that political aspirations are part of every attack on LGBTQ+ kids in Texas, including the fabricated debates and dozens of anti-transgender bills targeting them this year. These precious kids deserve so much better than the way this state is treating them." The deleted webpage also included links to the Texas chapters of PFLAG, a nationwide LGBTQ organization; a "national youth talk line" to discuss gender and sexual identity and various other issues; and LGBTQ legal services. Huffines said the page also linked to a website operated by the Human Rights Campaign, a politically active LGBTQ advocacy group that he called "the Planned Parenthood of LGBT issues." Since launching his campaign in May, Huffines has sought to pressure Abbott from the right, criticizing the governor's response to the COVID-19 pandemic and, more recently, the surge in migrant encounters at the state's southern border. Abbott has ignored Huffines and his other primary foes - who include former Texas Republican Party Chairman Allen West and conservative commentator and humorist Chad Prather - though Huffines has argued that his campaign is prompting the governor to take more conservative stances on certain issues. GUBERNATORIAL RACE: Who is challenging Texas Gov. Greg Abbott in 2022? In June, when Abbott was preparing to call the Legislature back to Austin for a special session, Huffines urged the governor to give lawmakers the green light to again consider a bill banning the use of puberty suppression drugs, hormone therapy, or surgeries and medical procedures used "for the purpose of gender transitioning or gender reassignment." The legislation failed during the spring session, and Abbott declined to add it to the list of topics lawmakers could consider over the summer. But in early August, the governor asked DFPS Commissioner Jaime Masters to determine whether gender reassignment surgery for transgender minors is a form of child abuse. He also called on the agency to investigate parents whose children undergo the procedure if it finds such surgeries constitute abuse. Masters responded by agreeing with Abbott, classifying the surgeries as "child abuse." LGBTQ advocates say the surgery is rarely performed on children. jasper.scherer@chron.com

Prompted by Abbott primary challenger, Texas agency removed webpage with suicide hotline, other resources for LGBTQ youth

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