What Happens When The Parents Say No?

This has always been a dilemma. Many conservatives say that the parents have an absolute control over a child until they are eighteen while many liberals say only until it affects a child’s health then it becomes child abuse.

This spring the Connecticut legislature debated allowing children to get PrEP without parental consent, the debate parallels the debate on trans children.

My daughter thinks she's transgender. Her public school undermined my efforts to help her.
USA Today
By Jay Keck , Opinion contributor
August 12, 2019

In April 2016, my then 14-year-old daughter became convinced that she was my son. In my attempt to help her, her public school undermined me every step of the way.

Throughout my daughter’s childhood, there were no signs that she wanted to be a boy. She loved stuffed animals, Pocahontas and wearing colorful bathing suits. I can’t recall a single interest that seemed unusually masculine, or any evidence that she was uncomfortable as a girl.

The only difficulty she had was forming and maintaining friendships. We later learned why: She was on the autism spectrum. She was very functional and did well in school, helped by her Individualized Education Program (IEP), a common practice for public school students who need special education.

At her high school, my daughter was approached by a girl who had recently come out at school as transgender. Shortly after meeting her, my daughter declared that she, too, was a boy trapped in a girl’s body and picked out a new masculine name.

So gender dysphoria is contagious?

Who knew. I wonder who I caught it from back when I was six or seven?

As you can tell these parents do not believe that people are trans. Especially children.

When her mother and I first found out, our feelings of helplessness and astonishment made it difficult to get through each day. But I feel my daughter is a victim more than anything else.

In an IEP meeting just after she told us about being a boy, I told the school that our wishes are to call her by her legal name at all times. The social worker present at the meeting stated that we have that right to make that request, so I assumed school staff would follow our directive. I followed up that meeting with an email, but later learned that my request was ignored and school staff continued to refer to her by the male name.

So their trans son is saying that he is trans and the parents say you are wrong… you cannot be trans because you were born a girl and they fought what he was telling them while the school was obeying the law and doing the right thing.

They brought him to a psychologist approved by the school district and in his report that he submitted to the school he said he was trans but according to his parents the psychologist said in private that he had underlying mental health conditions.

The parents claim that the whole world is against them… the school, the administration, National Education Association, and the Endocrine Society.

So when does the child’s rights supersede that of the parents rights?

In some states a child can get married as a teenager without parents approval. In most states a child can be emancipated at 16 and in some states as young as 14. Becoming emancipated is a very drastic step because they cut all ties and legal responsibilities from their parents when all they really need is proper healthcare.

My daughter told me that the school social worker was advising her about halfway houses because he thought we did not support her. The social worker confirmed this when I scheduled a meeting with him to discuss it. This felt like a horrifying attempt to encourage our daughter to run away from home.

In many states the authorities are looking at denying proper healthcare as a form of child abuse and are stepping in and requiring proper care for gender dysphoria.

One good thing… Illinois has banned conversion therapy on minors.

I think when a child is old enough to make an informed consent they should be able to decide for themselves. I find it ironic that parents can approve surgery on days old intersex babies without the child’s consent but object when a child who is old enough to understand their true gender identities and refuse treatment for gender dysphoria.

When he turns 18 I have a strong suspicion he is going to be thrown out on the street by his parents…

She turned 18 in late June and life-altering, dangerous testosterone injections are just one “informed consent form” away. She can turn to any one of Illinois’s 17 Planned Parenthood clinics for cheap and easy access. No extensive mental health assessment will be required, and there will be nothing I can do to stop her.

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Meanwhile in a California school district…

Non-binary teacher gives unicorn graphic to help explain gender identity
Pink News UK
By Lily Wakefield
August 13, 2019

The headteacher of a middle school stopped a non-binary science teacher handing out a gender unicorn graphic to students.

The teacher at Denair Middle School, in California, decided to hand out the sheets to seventh grade pupils (12 and 13 years old) on the first day of term to explain why they wanted to be addressed by the non-binary title of Mx, instead of Mr or Ms.

The graphic on the handout was a “gender unicorn,” from Trans Student Educational Resources, which explained simply gender identity, gender expression and attraction.

The Modesto Bee reported that it was part of a “getting to know each other” exercise, but the teacher was stopped by the school’s principal on Wednesday, August 7.
[…]
“When she [the school’s principal] saw the content of the handout, she spoke with the teacher and directed him to stop distributing it.”

HIM? Well we can see the bias there