Military veterans who reportedly lost custody of their autistic son after they refused to transition his gender are speaking out after suing a major hospital in Washington, D.C.
The Maryland couple spoke to the Daily Mail on the condition of anonymity and said their son had never shown any transgender tendencies until after a breakup with his girlfriend in 2021. The boy was 16 at the time and ended up in the hospital after harming himself following the breakup.
In May 2021, before the breakup, the teen had texted friends to say he was LGBT, but still used masculine pronouns and never indicated that he identified as transgender, the Mail reported. Around this same time, he was being tested for autism and being counseled by a service for disabled children.
But while at Children’s National Hospital in November 2021, the family was informed that the boy wanted to be a girl, and the family needed to start referring to him with she/her pronouns, according to their lawsuit reviewed by the Mail. The boy’s parents rejected this suggestion, reportedly telling hospital staff that their son was “impressionable” because he was autistic.
The couple say in their lawsuit, filed earlier this year, that the hospital began a “full-on campaign to transgender this child” going so far as to say the hospital engaged in “mental re-programming.” At one point, they said, the boy was forced to write letters to his friends rejecting his previous male identity, the Mail reported.
The family says in their lawsuit that the hospital was able to use its emergency policies to keep the boy from his parents and reported them to child protection services. He was held at the hospital for 41 days before being placed into foster care with a single foster mother who was allegedly a friend of the hospital’s “non-gendered” chaplain and who had a previous assault charge. The boy is currently living with the chaplain, according to the Mail, because the foster mother died.
In July 2022 – months after being taken from his family and referred to by feminine pronouns – the boy attempted suicide a second time, and was readmitted to Children’s National Hospital as a girl, the Mail reported.
In March 2023, the boy turned 18 and legally does not have to return to his parents if he chooses. His parents accuse the hospital of a “cruel, abrupt, and intentional interruption of two fit parents’ fundamental rights to parent their minor son.”
The parents said in their lawsuit they had “never known of [our] son’s purported desire or plan to change genders,” prior to him entering the hospital.
“Rather than treating [us] as patrons with legal and dignitary rights, the defendant… treated the parents as though they had harmed their son, even though the parents had never endangered their child and had home-schooled him to college entry at fourteen years old,” the lawsuit says, according to the Mail.
Amos Jones, an attorney representing the family, told the Mail: “This is the craziest case I’ve ever had. I don’t know why there are people who think this makes sense. But I guess lots of people agree with this in Washington DC now.”
The lawsuit accuses the hospital of negligence, inflicting intentional emotional distress, and discriminating against someone based on their religion. The hospital told the Mail that the lawsuit had been withdrawn by lawyers for the parents, but representatives for those lawyers denied the claim.
The lawsuit has taken a toll on the family, according to the father, who told the Mail that it has “drained so much money, there is no money left.”
“It changed our entire way of life, with the loss of a child and then with the loss of our income,” he added.
The family is suing for up to $100 million to cover damages and legal costs.
[#item_full_content]
[[{“value”:”
Military veterans who reportedly lost custody of their autistic son after they refused to transition his gender are speaking out after suing a major hospital in Washington, D.C.
The Maryland couple spoke to the Daily Mail on the condition of anonymity and said their son had never shown any transgender tendencies until after a breakup with his girlfriend in 2021. The boy was 16 at the time and ended up in the hospital after harming himself following the breakup.
In May 2021, before the breakup, the teen had texted friends to say he was LGBT, but still used masculine pronouns and never indicated that he identified as transgender, the Mail reported. Around this same time, he was being tested for autism and being counseled by a service for disabled children.
But while at Children’s National Hospital in November 2021, the family was informed that the boy wanted to be a girl, and the family needed to start referring to him with she/her pronouns, according to their lawsuit reviewed by the Mail. The boy’s parents rejected this suggestion, reportedly telling hospital staff that their son was “impressionable” because he was autistic.
The couple say in their lawsuit, filed earlier this year, that the hospital began a “full-on campaign to transgender this child” going so far as to say the hospital engaged in “mental re-programming.” At one point, they said, the boy was forced to write letters to his friends rejecting his previous male identity, the Mail reported.
The family says in their lawsuit that the hospital was able to use its emergency policies to keep the boy from his parents and reported them to child protection services. He was held at the hospital for 41 days before being placed into foster care with a single foster mother who was allegedly a friend of the hospital’s “non-gendered” chaplain and who had a previous assault charge. The boy is currently living with the chaplain, according to the Mail, because the foster mother died.
In July 2022 – months after being taken from his family and referred to by feminine pronouns – the boy attempted suicide a second time, and was readmitted to Children’s National Hospital as a girl, the Mail reported.
In March 2023, the boy turned 18 and legally does not have to return to his parents if he chooses. His parents accuse the hospital of a “cruel, abrupt, and intentional interruption of two fit parents’ fundamental rights to parent their minor son.”
The parents said in their lawsuit they had “never known of [our] son’s purported desire or plan to change genders,” prior to him entering the hospital.
“Rather than treating [us] as patrons with legal and dignitary rights, the defendant… treated the parents as though they had harmed their son, even though the parents had never endangered their child and had home-schooled him to college entry at fourteen years old,” the lawsuit says, according to the Mail.
Amos Jones, an attorney representing the family, told the Mail: “This is the craziest case I’ve ever had. I don’t know why there are people who think this makes sense. But I guess lots of people agree with this in Washington DC now.”
The lawsuit accuses the hospital of negligence, inflicting intentional emotional distress, and discriminating against someone based on their religion. The hospital told the Mail that the lawsuit had been withdrawn by lawyers for the parents, but representatives for those lawyers denied the claim.
The lawsuit has taken a toll on the family, according to the father, who told the Mail that it has “drained so much money, there is no money left.”
“It changed our entire way of life, with the loss of a child and then with the loss of our income,” he added.
The family is suing for up to $100 million to cover damages and legal costs.
“}]]
