Some readers have remarked that PJ Media spends a great deal of time on transgender issues. There are some reasons for that. First, transgenderism remains a dominant issue. Second, it involves someone making serious, often irreversible changes to someone’s body and has become the cause célèbre among the media and even political classes and therefore among many social climbers, status seekers, and impressionable young people. The fad of transgenderism may not be with us forever, but the physical, mental, and emotional fallout will likely affect people for some time.
Texas father Jeffrey Younger is back to square one when it comes to his children. Last week the Texas Supreme Court ruled that his ex-wife, pediatrician Dr. Anne Georgulas, can take his children to and keep them in California. Younger’s concern is that his ex-wife will transition his son. According to the Post Millennial, Georgulas believed that their seven-year-old son, James, wanted to transition to a girl and be called “Luna.” The mother also asked the court to prevent Younger from signing James up for activities using the boy’s name, calling the child James, or even permitting the boy to be around people who do not call the boy Luna and who do not use feminine pronouns.
The website Heavy features photos and posts by Georgulas of James dressed as a girl and even features the child in an advertisement for her practice. The site also has photos of James with his father, and the boy is not wearing a dress. Georgulas maintains that James once asked for a girl’s toy at McDonald’s and wanted to wear dresses and pretend to be a female cartoon character. The Post Millennial notes that Georgulas was advised to socially transition by a counselor at the GENecis Clinic at the Children’s Hospital Center, with which Georgulas is affiliated.
By contrast, Younger states that James does not act like a girl when he is away from his mother. That observation was also made by friends who were not allowed to testify during custody proceedings. The Millennial quotes one friend:
“Over the past year, I have observed that James is blissfully happy as a boy. He loves to march around outside and yell, ‘we are the only boy scout troop’ or ‘I’m the Leader of the wolf pack!’ He is always the ring leader, even though he isn’t the oldest of the group. He loves dressing as a super hero and sword fighting. One day we all walked to a playground near my house and on the way home James slipped in some mud and got his clothes dirty. He asked if he could borrow some of my kids clothes and I could wash his.
“Of course, I said, ‘no problem’ and grabbed him a pair of shorts from the chest of drawers and tossed them to him. I said, ‘hang on while I grab a shirt from the closet’. He immediately said, ‘Mrs. Sarah, I don’t need a shirt! It’s hot! And boys don’t have to wear shirts if they don’t want to! Isn’t that awesome!’ He was so cute. I said, ‘yes that is awesome!’ As he ran off to play. I did eventually get him to put on a shirt. It was gray with lizards on it and he loved it! He also likes having his hair cut a certain way but told my son Grayson that his mom wouldn’t let him get it too short even though he wanted it to be spikey.”
Heavy posted the transcript of a conversation between Younger and James:
You’re a boy right?”
“No, I’m a girl.”
“Who told you you’re a girl?”
“Mommy.”
The child said Anne also put James in dresses. “She buys me headbands. She gets me hair clips…she paints my nails.”
“Do you think you’re a girl?” The child answered in the affirmative.
The Texas courts gave Georgulas custody in 2021. Younger was prohibited from being informed about any medical treatments, except for transition surgery, hormone suppression therapy, and puberty-blocking medications. Georgulas cannot give consent for those treatments alone. Heavy also cited an article in the Texan that stated that James has been diagnosed with gender dysphoria by three separate mental health professionals and that he feels experiences anxiety when he “had to be a boy” around his father. According to Legal Insurrection, it is also alleged that Younger has not paid child support.
The Supreme Court ruled against Younger, and James will not be returned to Texas. According to the Concurrent Opinion, the court ruled that Younger already has a court order prohibiting Georgulas from transitioning James without Younger’s consent. The court held that there was no greater danger of James being transitioned without Younger’s consent than there was before California’s SB 107, which can prevent a child from being returned to a home state if returning could prevent the child from medically transitioning, was enacted. However, Younger has expressed concern over the bill. The digest reads in part:
Existing law permits a California court to decline to exercise its jurisdiction if the petitioner has wrongfully taken the child from another state or engaged in similar reprehensible conduct, except as specified. Existing law prohibits a court from considering the taking or retention of a child from a person who has legal custody of the child if there is evidence that the taking or retention was a result of domestic violence.
The bill would prohibit the enforcement of an order based on another state’s law authorizing a child to be removed from their parent or guardian based on that parent or guardian allowing their child to receive gender-affirming health care or gender-affirming mental health care. The bill would prohibit a court from finding that it is an inconvenient forum where the law or policy of another state that may take jurisdiction limits the ability of a parent to obtain gender-affirming health care or gender-affirming mental health care, as defined, and the provision of such care is at issue in the case before the court. The bill would authorize a court to take temporary jurisdiction because a child has been unable to obtain gender-affirming health care. The bill would additionally prohibit a court from considering the taking or retention of a child from a person who has legal custody of the child, if the taking or retention was for obtaining gender-affirming health care or mental health care. The bill would declare its provisions to be severable.
The law took effect on Jan. 1, 2023. On December 30, Younger posted:
The Supreme Court of Texas denied my Mandamus, effectively terminating my parental rights. My children are now subject to being chemically castrated in California. Texas is an empire of child abuse, led by Texas judges.
— Jeff Younger (@JeffYoungerTX) December 31, 2022
Younger has not publicly stated what he will do next. And there is no telling if someone will challenge California’s SB 107. Perhaps the best that Younger will be able to do is wait until the time when James needs a father to help him put his life back together.
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