Parents of a transgender teenage boy have asked an Ohio family court to stop their child from receiving hormone therapy, reports CNN.
The 17-year-old boy, whose name has been kept anonymous, took his parents to court in order to be able to receive treatment for gender dysphoria at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center. The teen suffers from anxiety and depression related to his gender dysphoria, and began experiencing suicidal ideation after his parents refused to acknowledge his gender identity.
The boy has been living with his maternal grandparents while the court battle rages on. But the teens’ parents have asked that the child continue living with his grandparents, even if the court decides that the parents are the ones who should make choices about whether the teen pursues his transition.
Karen Brinkman, an attorney representing the parents, says that it is in the teen’s best interest to continue living with his grandparents, though the parents are best suited to retain custody and make medical decisions for their child.
Brinkman maintains that the teen’s current mental state hinders him from making an informed decision about his health care.
“It does not appear that this child is even close to being able to make such a life-altering decision at this time,” she said.
The grandparents have previously told the court that they are willing to allow their grandchild to receive treatment for gender dysphoria, including hormone therapy, if it is deemed medically necessary.
In 2016, the teen was hospitalized and treated for gender dysphoria. But his parents put a stop to the therapy, citing religious objections and a desire to seek out a Christian therapist to help their child deal with his feelings.
In November 2016, the teen told a local crisis hotline that his father had told him to kill himself. The teen also claims that his parents made him sit in a room and listen to Bible scripture for over six hours in an effort to purge him of his feelings of gender dysphoria. A month later, the teen claims he tried to read a letter to his parents explaining his feelings, but his mother screamed at him and called him a liar. Eventually, the parents relented and allowed him to resume counseling-type therapy to deal with his suicidal ideation.
The boys’ medical providers at Cincinnati Children’s say that the boy has improved mentally and emotionally from his therapy, and that the grandparents have created a supportive environment. But the medical team believes that starting hormone therapy and other treatments will help the teen transition more smoothly.
A Planet Fitness gym in Alaska banned an anti-LGBTQ woman who photographed a transgender member who was using the women's locker room.
Patricia Silva, a life coach from Fairbanks, Alaska, posted a public Facebook video on March 11, in which she claimed to have seen a "man shaving in the woman's bathroom" at the gym, reported the British tabloid Daily Mail.
"I realize he wants to be a woman, he gets to be a woman," Silva said in the video. "I love him in Christ. He's a spiritual being having a human experience. He doesn't like his gender, so he wants to be a woman, but I’m not comfortable with him shaving in my bathroom. All right. I just thought I'd say it out loud."
Ohio Republican Attorney General Dave Yost is appealing a judge's decision to block the state from enforcing its ban on gender-affirming care for minors and a ban prohibiting transgender athletes from competing on female-designated sports teams.
Yost filed an emergency motion with the Ohio Supreme Court asking it to overturn a temporary restraining order issued by Franklin County Court of Common Pleas Judge Michael Holbrook, which blocked the law's provisions from taking effect for two weeks.
Holbrook, a Republican appointee, found that two transgender minors and their parents, who sued to challenge the law in court last month, were likely to suffer "immediate" harm, in the form of reduced access to health care providers willing to treat their gender dysphoria, if the law -- which imposes penalties on doctors who prescribe gender-affirming treatments -- were to take effect.
More than a dozen female athletes have sued the National Collegiate Athletic Association over its transgender athlete participation policy.
The 16 female athletes bringing the lawsuit allege that the NCAA’s policy violates their civil rights under Title IX, a federal law that prohibits sex-based discrimination at any educational institution receiving federal funds.
Title IX has ensures that more schools provide athletic teams to women, thereby creating more opportunities to compete.
The athletes at the center of the lawsuit claim that transgender women who have undergone male puberty have a natural physiological advantage over cisgender women.
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