Mother intent on gender-transitioning 8-y-o son into girl awarded decision-making power over therapy, education
Court orders father to pay for trans-affirming counseling; Save James Facebook page says it's costing $5K a month
UPDATE Aug. 22 at 11:30 PM ET: Curators of the Save James Facebook page said misinformation has been spread about the legal case involving James Younger, an 8-year-old boy whose mother is attempting to transition him into a transgender girl named Luna.
"We want to make this abundantly clear. Judge Mary Brown has NOT given sole decision making to Anne! Judge Mary Brown has NOT given Anne sole decision-making ability over medical. The ONLY things that Judge Mary Brown ruled on was about therapy and education," the Friday post read.
"She only said that her previous ruling forcing Jeff to do the therapy would continue and that Jeff CANNOT homeschool the boys like he wanted to. They have to return to their old school which has treated James as Luna. We apologize immensely for any misunderstanding as our goal is for the truth to be known. Any report that mentions custody or decision-making ability is NOT accurate."
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A mother who's attempting to gender-transition her 8-year-old son into a girl has been awarded decision-making power regarding her son's healthcare and schooling, essentially reversing a previous ruling that granted the father co-parenting rights.
In the ongoing case of 8-year-old James Younger, Dallas Judge Mary Brown canceled a hearing that was scheduled for Tuesday and removed his father, Jeffrey Younger, from having any say in his son's medical, psychological, and psychiatric care. Instead, the judge gave all decision-making power to Dr. Anne Georgulas, a pediatrician and non-biological mother of James and his twin brother, Jude, LifeSite News reported.
Younger has also been ordered by the court to pay for trans-affirming counseling sessions, which he had previously objected to as he was not permitted to help select his son's counselors.
Amid a nationwide outcry over the case, last October the contentious custody battle yielded a ruling where the parents were awarded joint conservatorship. But the decision this week reverses that ruling.
In the October decision, Judge Kim Cooks, who was subsequently recused from the case, also ruled that Georgulas had overly affirmed James as female by taking him to LGBT parades, purchasing dresses and fake hair for him to wear, and enrolling him a school as a transgender girl named "Luna."
Brown was appointed to the case in January after Georgulas' attorneys successfully motioned late last year to remove Cooks from the case because of a Facebook post the judge shared on her personal page. In the post, the judge shared a Dallas Morning News article about her ruling, where she added a statement pointing out that neither “[the] Governor nor any legislature had any influence on the Court’s Decision.”
As it presently stands, Georgulas will now be allowed to enroll James in school as "Luna" and pursue experimental transgender-affirming medical treatments.
Younger is under a court-imposed gag order and is not allowed to speak to media. His friends and supporters, however, have organized a Facebook page called "Save James" along with a crowdfunding site to assist with ongoing legal expenses.
The Save James page explains that the counseling sessions Younger is being forced to pay for cost $5,000 per month in addition to a $10,000 retainer. Court documents do not say anything about the cost of the trans-affirming therapy or retainer, but they do disclose Younger's desire to withdraw the boys from public school and homeschool them.
Georgulas "has forced James to live as 'Luna' in a school surrounded by teachers and therapists who do not acknowledge that he has said multiple times to multiple people (without Jeff around) that he wants to be a boy and hates being forced to be a girl," a Tuesday post on the Save James Facebook page explained.
Georgulas is not James' biological mother as he and his twin brother were conceived through the use of a donor egg and IVF reproductive technology.
As news of the latest decision broke on social media, the #savejames and #savejamesyounger hashtags that surged last fall resurfaced.
A "special evidentiary hearing" for the purposes of reviewing the orders is reportedly slated for next month, according to the “Save James” Facebook page.
Younger has long referred to the medicalization of gender, specifically the administration of puberty-blocking drugs and cross-sex hormones, as "chemical castration" and a vicious form of child sexual abuse.
According to the terms of the October order, in addition to being prohibited from speaking to the media, Younger's website, Save James, had to be shut down. The Save James Facebook page aims to rescue both James and the thousands of other children facing medical gender-transitioning in similar situations but whose cases are not widely known.
