CINCINNATI, Ohio, February 22, 2018 (LifeSiteNews) – Parental rights suffered a blow in Ohio on Friday when a Juvenile Court judge stripped parents of their daughter after they refused to go along with her transition to “male.”
Hamilton County Juvenile Court Judge Sylvia Sieve Hendon awarded full custody to the girl’s maternal grandparents in a case that raises grave concerns about parental rights in the era of self-proclaimed “gender identity.”
“This is a major setback for advocates of parental rights and religious freedom,” the Federalist’s Nicole Russell assessed. “The judge awarded custody to the teen’s grandparents who were, in the court’s eyes, more accepting of the teen’s wishes” to receive sex change drugs.
“We think the grandparents are the ones who have an open mind” regarding sex change chemicals, the court-appointed guardian testified, while “the parents have clearly indicated that they’re not open to it.”
The 17-year-old female says she wants to become “male” and has threatened to kill herself. The girl’s parents say that the ‘transition’ is not in their daughter’s best interest. They sought out Christian counseling instead.
In her ruling, Hendon went so far as to suggest that politicians legislate a “pathway” for transgender treatment in cases of parental conflict.
The court would be remiss if it did not take this opportunity to encourage the Legislature to act in crafting legislation that would give the Juvenile Courts of this state a framework by which it could evaluate a minor petitioner's right to consent to gender therapy. […] That type of legislation would give of voice and a pathway to youth,” the judge wrote.
Russell predicts such legislation will only further eliminate parental rights. “Beckoning lawmakers to draw up legislation on the topic and stripping the parents of custody seems to align more with a police state than a free society in which parents have primary authority to steward the(ir) children,” she commented.
She said the clear message to parents from this judiciary seems to be, “Mutilate your child, or we will do it for you.”
The ruling opens up the possibility of puberty-blocking sex change drugs being added to the “No-Parent-Asked” list, which in many states already includes allowing children to receive contraception and even abortion without parental consent.
‘It’s an ominous sign for the state to argue that because parents oppose a child’s hormonal treatment on the basis of religion, the parents presumptively lack openness to the child’s best interests,” Attorney Mary Rice Hasson of the Ethics and Public Policy Center observed.
Hendon’s ruling revealed that doctors at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital were “quick” to diagnose the girl as transgender. The hospital’s Transgender Program (TP) has, apparently, never met a normal child. The rate of pro-transgender diagnosis at Children’s TP is one hundred percent, program head Dr. Lee Ann E. Conard told the judge.
While Hendon expressed “concern” that Cincinnati Children’s diagnosed every kid brought to them as needing treatment, the judge nevertheless revealed her own bias when she ruled that the teenage girl “has a legitimate right to pursue life with a different gender identity than the one assigned at birth.”
In 2015, Cincinnati Children’s TP had just over one hundred patients. By the end of 2017, they were being paid to “treat” nearly a thousand. The program recently received two million dollars for more minors to be “treated.”
The court’s determination to allow the child to pursue opposite-sex transition was undaunted by the girl’s medical records of anxiety and depression, nor by her suicidal mental state, nor by court testimony that she was both mentally and emotionally not stable enough to make any long-term, life-changing decision.
Commentator Jonathan Van Maren said the ruling is a threat to parents.
“Gender ideologies that are barely a decade old can now result in the loss of your children —and these threats will only continue to grow,” he said.
“It is absolutely essential…that we make our voices heard,” he added. “The ideologues will never be satisfied until children of all parents — especially their opponents — are indoctrinated into their ideas.”