SXSW Kicks Off With In-Person Events Amid Investigations Of Trans Families

For the first time in two years, attendees are flooding to the hugely popular SXSW conference in Austin, Texas in person.

There’s a lot of justified excitement around new films, music performances, tech reveals, and panels going on, but it’s hard to ignore that it’s happening soon after the concerning order by Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) to investigate parents of transgender kids for child abuse was revealed.

A lawsuit filed against the office of Abbott claims says these investigations have already begun, reportedly with an employee of the state protective services agency who has a teenage transgender child. Investigators could attempt to charge parents who provided their child with gender-affirming medical care with abuse. These treatments include receiving puberty blockers or cross-sex hormones.

Abbot’s order does not officially change Texas law but has led to outcries from civil groups and families of trans children.

SXSW exploring this situation. A new panel slated for Sunday morning was announced, entitled “Trans Texans Need Us:  Hear From The Front Lines,” which will feature several trans activists and local Texans who are being affected by the new orders. A spokesperson for SXSW also denounced Abbott’s order in an official statement, “The governor’s latest directive puts trans children in harm’s way once again, and we unequivocally condemn his action.”

While there were some rumblings online as to whether an SXSW boycott was warranted in the wake of these orders, there were minimal drops from the festival besides the founders of the social app Clubhouse, who are opting to hold the panel on their platform instead. Some high-profile attendees of the conference have highlighted the issue, though.

One was Chelsea Clinton, who while in an SXSW EDU talk called the governor’s order “distressing,” and said it was “really important for cis-gendered parents to speak out about this, and to say that this is fundamentally a violation of human rights.”