Due to a recent series of court orders, Dr. Ximena Lopez has been allowed to recommence operations of the GENECIS Clinic at Children’s Medical Center in Dallas.
Dr. Lopez’s clinic provides “counseling and medical interventions” to children suffering from gender dysphoria, including transgender hormone usage, but was shuttered in November of last year by hospital leadership, citing the ongoing public debate surrounding these procedures.
Dr. Lopez then sued her employer in May 2022 in an attempt to reopen the clinic, alleging, among other things, that the medical center’s decision interfered with her professional judgment as a physician and was “discriminatory against patients based upon their gender identity.”
In documents provided to The Dallas Express by Dr. Lopez’s attorneys, Judge Melissa Bellan issued a Temporary Restraining Order (TRO) on May 12, restoring the clinic’s scope of operations to “the last, actual, peaceable time before the instant controversy” caused by the hospital’s decision to disband it.
The judge’s ruling, in effect, overruled the hospital’s decision to end the GENECIS Clinic.
In the TRO, Judge Bellan wrote that Dr. Lopez had “carried her burden at this stage” by successfully proving that Children’s Medical Center violate numerous laws, including interfering with Dr. Lopez’s practice of medicine and discriminating against transgender patients.
The temporary order was in effect until May 26, but before its expiration, Judge Bellan issued a temporary injunction on May 23, effectively extending the parameters of the May 12 TRO until the conclusion of the trial between Dr. Lopez and Children’s Medical Center.
Judge Bellan was first elected to the bench of Dallas County Court at Law No.2 in 2018 and is currently running for re-election in 2022.
After the May 23 ruling, Charla Aldous, who represents Dr. Lopez pro bono, said in a written statement:
“What this means is that Dr. Lopez and her colleagues can treat new and existing patients as they see fit, free from any interference from outside sources, for at least as long as this case works its way through the system.”
The legal dispute playing out between Dr. Lopez and her employer illustrates the need for clarity in state law, argues attorney Jonathan Saenz, president of Texas Values, an organization whose mission is “to preserve and advance a culture of family values in the state of Texas.”
“Right now, it’s the wild, wild west on this issue, with no real oversight, and it’s clear we need a state law to ban gender modification and mutilation on children,” stated Saenz in an email to The Dallas Express. “What state elected officials are doing is not working.”
Saenz is referring to a series of actions by state leaders over the last year which has signaled a shift in policy but has not carried the actual force of law. A primary example is the February 2022 declaration by Republican Attorney General Ken Paxton that “sex-change procedures on children and the prescription of puberty blockers” constitute “child abuse” under Texas law.
Paxton’s declaration came through the release of a formal attorney general opinion, which, according to his state website, is a “written interpretation of existing law” and “cannot create new provisions in the law or correct unintended, undesirable effects of the law.”
Saenz went on to say, “Children do not have the capacity for these adult decisions that have life-altering, and in some cases, irreversible consequences. The outrage and concern on this issue [are] overwhelming and bipartisan: cutting healthy tissue from minors and providing cross-sex hormones and other treatments without long-term study is egregious and should be stopped immediately.”
Lawyers for Dr. Lopez provided relevant documents to The Dallas Express upon request but declined to comment.
Caleb Miller, one of her attorneys, responded, “We appreciate you reaching out to us but have decided not to take interviews or answer questions regarding the case or strategy during the discovery phase.”
Dr. Lopez’s legal team has published several press releases on the case over the last two months celebrating their successes in Judge Bellan’s court, including a June 17 victory in which Attorney General Paxton was removed as an intervenor in the case.
Without the legislative action called for by Saenz, similar court proceedings are likely to continue across Texas. For now, Dr. Lopez’s case advances, and her clinic will remain open until it is resolved.