Denton, Texas Denton is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the county seat of Denton County, Texas, Denton County. With a population of 139,869 as of 2020, it is the List of cities in Texas by population, 20th-most populous city in Texas, the List of Un ...

Human Rights Campaign The Human Rights Campaign (HRC) is an American LGBTQ advocacy group. It is the largest LGBTQ political lobbying organization within the United States. Based in Washington, D.C., the organization focuses on protecting and expanding rights for L ...

American Civil Liberties Union The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) is an American nonprofit civil rights organization founded in 1920. ACLU affiliates are active in all 50 states, Washington, D.C., and Puerto Rico. The budget of the ACLU in 2024 was $383 million. T ...

Lambda Legal The Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund, better known as Lambda Legal, is an American civil rights organization that focuses on lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBTQ) communities as well as people living with HIV/AIDS ( PWAs) throug ...

PFLAG Parents and Friends of Lesbians and Gays (PFLAG) is an LGBTQ advocacy organization founded and led by friends and family of LGBTQ people. PFLAG is a national organization presiding over decentralized local and regional chapters. PFLAG has nearly ...

Texas Department of Family and Protective Services The Texas Department of Family and Protective Services (DFPS) is responsible for investigating charges of abuse, neglect or exploitation of children, the elderly, and adults with disabilities. Prior to its creation in 2004, the agency had been ca ...

Greg Abbott Gregory Wayne Abbott ( ; born November 13, 1957) is an American politician, attorney, and jurist who has served since 2015 as the 48th governor of Texas. A member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party, he served from 2002 to ...

transgender A transgender (often shortened to trans) person has a gender identity different from that typically associated with the sex they were sex assignment, assigned at birth. The opposite of ''transgender'' is ''cisgender'', which describes perso ...

Denton County Denton County is located in the U.S. state of Texas. As of the 2020 census, its population was 906,422, making it the seventh-most populous county in Texas. The county seat is Denton. The county, which was named for John B. Denton, was esta ...

Texas Attorney General The Texas attorney general is the chief legal officer
of the

Ken Paxton Warren Kenneth Paxton Jr. (born December 23, 1962) is an American politician and lawyer who has served as the attorney general of Texas since 2015. A member of the Republican Party, he previously served in the Texas Senate representing the e ...

to dinner at her home. On September 1, Paxton and his wife had dinner with Briggle and her family, including her

trans Trans- is a Latin prefix meaning "across", "beyond", or "on the other side of". Used alone, trans may refer to: Sociology * Trans, a sociological term which may refer to: ** Transgender, people who identify themselves with a gender that di ...

son, who had begun his transition during first grade. After the dinner, the

Human Rights Campaign The Human Rights Campaign (HRC) is an American LGBTQ advocacy group. It is the largest LGBTQ political lobbying organization within the United States. Based in Washington, D.C., the organization focuses on protecting and expanding rights for L ...

invited Briggle to become a founding member of the Parents for Transgender Equality National Council, and she eventually became the national co-chair of the council. In December, Briggle and her family were invited to the

White House The White House is the official residence and workplace of the president of the United States. Located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue Northwest (Washington, D.C.), NW in Washington, D.C., it has served as the residence of every U.S. president ...

to watch '' Rogue One: A Star Wars Story''. In March 2017, Briggle and her son participated in Trans Texas Lobby Day, with her son meeting lawmakers as part of a campaign in opposition to a proposed bill to prevent children from using a bathroom matching their gender identity. A ''San Antonio Express-News'' photographer took a picture of her son, age nine at the time and tired after the day, sitting on the floor and crying while Briggle comforted him. Briggle posted the picture to Facebook and it became a viral opportunity for her to continue to speak out on behalf of trans children. The proposed bathroom bill was not passed by the legislature. In July 2019, Briggle participated in an open community discussion at the City Council Chambers in Denton City Hall that was organized by a member of the city council on the topic of the need for a local ordinance with legal protections for LGBTQ people. In November 2019, she spoke with

ABC News ABC News most commonly refers to: * ABC News (Australia), a national news service of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation * ABC News (United States), a news-gathering and broadcasting division of the American Broadcasting Company ABC News may a ...

about Paxton calling for a

Texas Department of Family and Protective Services The Texas Department of Family and Protective Services (DFPS) is responsible for investigating charges of abuse, neglect or exploitation of children, the elderly, and adults with disabilities. Prior to its creation in 2004, the agency had been ca ...

investigation of another family with a transgender child, stating, "After meeting a mother like me, meeting me in my home, meeting my child, breaking bread at my table, engaging with my children, and then acting like family's like mine should not exist, it's infuriating." In April 2021, Briggle testified before the

Texas Senate The Texas Senate is the upper house of the Texas Legislature, with the Texas House of Representatives functioning as the lower house. Together, they form the State legislature (United States), state legislature of the state of Texas. The Senate ...

Committee on State Affairs against two proposed bills, one to expand the definition of "abuse" to include parents who obtain gender-affirming medical treatments and procedures for their children, with criminal and civil penalties, and the other to restrict liability insurance coverage and create a felony offense for doctors prescribing treatment or performing procedures. During her testimony, she explained gender-affirming surgeries are not performed on minor children, and stated, "If this bill becomes law, that, senators, is child abuse, and I promise I will call every single one of you every time a transgender child dies from suicide to remind you that their lives could have been saved, but you chose not to." After her testimony, she told

NBC News NBC News is the news division of the American broadcast television network NBC. The division operates under NBCUniversal Media Group, a division of NBCUniversal, which is itself a subsidiary of Comcast. The news division's various operations r ...

her family would consider moving out of Texas to protect their child. In May 2021, Briggle spoke out against efforts in the

Texas Legislature The Texas State Legislature is the state legislature of the U.S. state of Texas. It is a bicameral body composed of a 31-member Senate and a 150-member House of Representatives. The state legislature meets at the Capitol in Austin. It is a p ...

to pass a bill to prevent trans children from participating on sports teams that match their gender identity. She also spoke with

The 19th The 19th, sometimes stylized The 19th*, is a nonprofit and independent news organization based in Austin, Texas. It was founded in 2020 by CEO Emily Ramshaw and publisher Amanda Zamora, both former ''Texas Tribune'' staffers who served as edito ...

about her work as part of a national advocacy network of parents of trans children and the challenges of trying to find a state to relocate to that is safe for trans children and their families. In November 2021, with the help of her church and a local brewery, Briggle organized a book reading for children after a "Rainbow Storytime" scheduled for the

Trans Day of Remembrance The Transgender Day of Remembrance (TDoR), also known as the International Transgender Day of Remembrance, has been observed annually from its inception on November 20 to memorialize those who have been murdered as a result of transphobia. The ...

at the local public library was canceled due to threats of violence. The book reading organized by Briggle featured stories with transgender themes. Hundreds of people attended, including a small group of protesters and police serving as protection.

2022 - present

On February 24, 2022, Briggle spoke out against the efforts of Texas Governor

Greg Abbott Gregory Wayne Abbott ( ; born November 13, 1957) is an American politician, attorney, and jurist who has served since 2015 as the 48th governor of Texas. A member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party, he served from 2002 to ...

and Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton to describe gender-affirming medical treatments for children as child abuse and the directive from Abbott for the

Texas Department of Family and Protective Services The Texas Department of Family and Protective Services (DFPS) is responsible for investigating charges of abuse, neglect or exploitation of children, the elderly, and adults with disabilities. Prior to its creation in 2004, the agency had been ca ...

(DFPS) to investigate families with transgender children who were reported to be receiving such medical treatment. According to her attorney, DFPS began an investigation into the Briggle family on February 24, the day after Paxton wrote a legal opinion that characterized gender-affirming treatments as child abuse. On February 28, Briggle was notified that DFPS had opened an investigation into her family. After the Briggles consulted with an attorney, their home was visited two days later by a caseworker who interviewed their children. On March 8, Briggle wrote on her website in a post about the investigation, "Raising a transgender child in Texas has been one long political emergency." On March 11, a

Texas District Court The Texas District Courts form part of the Texas judicial system and are the trial courts of general jurisdiction of Texas. As of January 2019, 472 district courts serve the state, each with a single judge, elected by partisan election to a four- ...

issued a temporary

injunction An injunction is an equitable remedy in the form of a special court order compelling a party to do or refrain from doing certain acts. It was developed by the English courts of equity but its origins go back to Roman law and the equitable rem ...

, which temporarily stopped the state investigations into families who provide gender-affirming medical care for their children, and scheduled a trial for July 11, 2022. Texas Attorney General

Ken Paxton Warren Kenneth Paxton Jr. (born December 23, 1962) is an American politician and lawyer who has served as the attorney general of Texas since 2015. A member of the Republican Party, he previously served in the Texas Senate representing the e ...

appealed the trial court decision, and it was upheld at the Third District Court of Appeals of Texas. At the

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in April 2022, Briggle gave a speech onstage about the experience of her family after the Abbott directive. On May 13, 2022, the

Texas Supreme Court The Supreme Court of Texas (SCOTX) is the court of last resort for civil matters (including juvenile delinquency cases, which are categorized as civil under the Texas Family Code) in the U.S. state of Texas. A different court, the Texas Court o ...

removed the broad injunction against DFPS investigations and applied it only to the family leading the lawsuit during the appeal process; the court said DFPS investigations could otherwise continue, and that the directive from Abbott cited no legal authority and was not legally binding on DFPS. On June 8, in a case titled ''PFLAG v. Abbott'', the

American Civil Liberties Union The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) is an American nonprofit civil rights organization founded in 1920. ACLU affiliates are active in all 50 states, Washington, D.C., and Puerto Rico. The budget of the ACLU in 2024 was $383 million. T ...

and

Lambda Legal The Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund, better known as Lambda Legal, is an American civil rights organization that focuses on lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBTQ) communities as well as people living with HIV/AIDS ( PWAs) throug ...

filed a lawsuit on behalf of the Parents, Families, and Friends of Lesbians and Gays organization (now known as

PFLAG Parents and Friends of Lesbians and Gays (PFLAG) is an LGBTQ advocacy organization founded and led by friends and family of LGBTQ people. PFLAG is a national organization presiding over decentralized local and regional chapters. PFLAG has nearly ...

) and three families, including the Briggles, to block investigations under the Abbott directive into their families as well as members of PFLAG. The

Travis County Travis County is located in Central Texas. As of the 2020 census, the population was 1,290,188. It is the fifth-most populous county in Texas. Its county seat and most populous city is Austin, the state's capital. The county was established i ...

District Court issued a

temporary restraining order An injunction is an equitable remedy in the form of a special court order compelling a party to do or refrain from doing certain acts. It was developed by the English courts of equity but its origins go back to Roman law and the equitable reme ...

against investigations based on the directive, pending further court proceedings, for the lead plaintiff families and members of PFLAG on June 10. During the June 10 hearing, a plaintiffs' attorney noted the state had closed the investigation into the Briggles and found no child abuse. In a July 8 court order, the Travis County judge described the DFPS investigations as "gross invasions of privacy" and issued a

temporary injunction An injunction is an equitable remedy in the form of a special court order compelling a party to do or refrain from doing certain acts. It was developed by the English courts of equity but its origins go back to Roman law and the equitable remed ...

that blocked the pending investigations into the other two families named in the lawsuit, while reserving the issues of further relief for PFLAG members and the Briggles for a later decision. Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton filed an appeal. The Travis County court extended the temporary injunction to include DFPS investigations of PLFAG members and the Briggles based on the directive on September 16, and Attorney General Paxton filed an immediate appeal. The injunctions blocking investigations of the parties based on the directive continue during the appeal. Briggle, her husband, and her children attended a rally for equality hosted by LGBTQ organizations in

Austin, Texas Austin ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of Texas. It is the county seat and most populous city of Travis County, Texas, Travis County, with portions extending into Hays County, Texas, Hays and W ...

on March 20, 2023, and attempted to meet with Texas House Speaker

Dade Phelan Matthew McDade Phelan (born September 18, 1975) is an American real estate developer and politician. A member of the Republican Party, he serves in Texas House of Representatives representing District 21, which includes most of Jefferson and ...

; Briggle has also continued to use social media for advocacy related to gender-affirming health care. As of April 2023, the Briggles are the only family, of at least 15 families, investigated by DFPS pursuant to the Abbott directive to have publicly identified themselves.

Political career

Briggle was a candidate for Denton City Council in 2015, and lost to Kathleen Wazny with 31% of the vote. In January 2022, she declared her candidacy for the at-large seat on the Denton City Council. In the election on May 7, 2022, Briggle received 7,503 votes and lost to Chris Watts, who received 7,963 votes.

Personal life

Briggle is the owner of a massage studio and is married to Adam Briggle, who is a tenured professor of philosophy at the

University of North Texas The University of North Texas (UNT) is a public university, public research university located in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex. Its main campus is in Denton, Texas, Denton, with a satellite campus in Frisco, Texas, Frisco. It serves as the ...

. They have two children.

References

External links

* (Love to the Max) * (campaign for Denton City Council)
PFLAG v. Abbott
(

ACLU The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) is an American nonprofit civil rights organization founded in 1920. ACLU affiliates are active in all 50 states, Washington, D.C., and Puerto Rico. The budget of the ACLU in 2024 was $383 million. ...

) {{DEFAULTSORT:Briggle, Amber Living people LGBTQ rights activists from Texas People from Denton, Texas Year of birth missing (living people) 21st-century American women

Biography

Early activism 2016 - 2021

2022 - present

Political career

Personal life

References

External links