On Friday, Ohio parents were denied custody of their daughter for not being supportive enough of her alleged transgenderism.
The 17-year-old biologically female child identifies as a boy and
claims she has suicidal thoughts over her parents' lack of support for her transgenderism (they won't, for example, call her by her new chosen male name). The parents were fighting for custody of their daughter back from the state in an effort to stop potential transgender hormone treatment.
An attorney representing the parents, whose names have not been disclosed because of privacy concerns, argued that the girl was not "even close to being able to make such a life-altering decision at this time." Representatives of the girl argued that a "medical team" claimed that the treatment was a matter of life and death.Hamilton County Judge Sylvia Sieve Hendon granted custody to the girl's maternal grandparents, who are open to transgender hormone therapy. The teenager has been living with them since 2016.
According to CNN, Hendon also granted the grandparents the option to petition to change the teen's name to her new male name in probate court. The girl is now covered by their insurance.
"The grandparents, rather than parents, will be the ones to help make medical decisions for the child going forward. But before any hormone treatment is allowed, the court ordered, the teen should be evaluated by a psychologist who is not affiliated with the current facility where he is receiving treatment, on 'the issue of consistency in the child's gender presentation, and feelings of non-conformity,'" notes CNN.
The parents were granted visitation rights.
Karen Brinkman, the parents' attorney, argued that granting the grandparents custody was merely an act to circumvent "the necessity of parents' consent" and was not in the child's best interest.The parents "have done their due diligence contacting medical professionals, collecting thousands of hours of research and relying on their observation of their own child ... that led them to the conclusion that this is not in their child's best interest," she said.The parents' Christian faith was
used against them in the case by Donald Clancy of the Hamilton County Prosecutor's Office.
"Father testified that any kind of transition at all would go against his core beliefs and allowing the child to transition would be akin to him taking his heart out of his chest and placing it on the table," argued Clancy.
Brinkman denied the allegations and argued that the parents believed hormone therapy was "unnecessary" and "would do more harm than good."
In her decision, Judge Hendon urged Ohio lawmakers to create legislation that "would give a voice and a pathway to youth" like the child who has been ripped from her parents to receive "gender therapy" without parents' consent."What is clear from the testimony presented in this case and the increasing worldwide interest in transgender care is that there is certainly a reasonable expectation that circumstances similar to the one at bar are likely to repeat themselves," wrote Hendon. "That type of legislation would give a voice and a pathway to youth similarly situated as (the teen) without attributing fault to the parents and involving them in protracted litigation which can and does destroy a family unit."
Comment: Totalitarianism, here we come.