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Colorado parents sue school for helping their daughter become a boy in class and keeping them in the dark
A Colorado couple has sued a school and state officials after a counselor helped their 14-year-old daughter become a boy in class while keeping them in the dark.
The parents, who are called John and Jane Doe in court papers, say Brighton High School, in the Denver suburbs, helped the anxious and depressed teen transition without notifying them.
A counselor even connected the girl to a therapist, who was themselves trans, and suggested the girl take cross-sex hormones and have her breasts surgically removed.
The daughter, known as AD and now aged 16, identifies as a girl once again and regrets her transition.
The parents seek a jury trial, damages, their legal fees paid, and state law and school policies changed so that other families are not harmed.
Brighton High School, in the Denver suburbs, is among the 33 schools in the 27J district
Colorado has been roiled by debates over whether sex change drugs are the best option for trans youth
It's the latest in a series of lawsuits aimed at teachers and clinicians who help kids transition, despite growing evidence that medical sex changes can have damaging consequences.
'It happened all in secret, for months and months without our clients knowing,' says the couple's lawyer Eric Sell, from the conservative Center For American Liberty.
'Parents have the constitutional right to consent and be informed of treatment that the government is providing.'
This 'isn't something schools should be doing on an ad hoc basis at the child's direction,' he adds.
The 27J Schools district, which is responsible for some 23,000 students across 33 schools, told The Mail that it could not comment on an active lawsuit.
According to the 523-page lawsuit, AD was suffering from depression, anxiety and identifying as a boy after starting at the high school in 2022.
She told a counselor, who focussed on the girl's trans identity and if her parents would affirm her, rather than her other mental health problems, it is claimed.
The counselor helped AD change her pronouns and name to ZD in class, flagging her on a school database, so teachers knew to keep her parents out of the loop, papers show.
The girl was referred to a trans therapist. She used the counselor's office and computer for these online sessions, so her parents would not find out about them.
In them, the therapist told her: 'You are a boy.'
They 'discussed taking testosterone and having a mastectomy as the next steps' in her transition, the papers show.
But the girl's withdrawal and anxiety worsened.
In March 2023 the parents learned about their daughter's transition and ended her therapy sessions.
AD told her parents she wanted to take testosterone and have a mastectomy, but her mom and dad objected.
Colorado's education commissioner Susana Córdova (left) and Attorney General Philip Weiser are named in the suit
Protests about gender and sex changes have roiled Colorado, leading to this protest at an appeals court in Denver in May
'They wanted their daughter to explore the root of her distress through therapy rather than view transitioning as a panacea that would solve all of her problems,' the case states.
By March 2024, AD started to regret her transition and started living as a girl again.
'She now believes that her prior identification as a boy was a subconscious attempt to mask her other mental health struggles,' the lawsuit says.
Still, the parents worry that her LGBTQ+ classmates won't accept her as a girl again and may 'pressure' her to change sex again, the papers show.
This is made harder because the school is LGBTQ-friendly, with rainbow flags and clubs, while being 'neutral' toward straight kids, the suit says.
The parents say the state, the Department of Education, and the 27J School District violated their constitutional rights by encouraging the secret sex change.
It was filed at the US District Court for the District of Colorado on August 7, and refers to the First and Fourteenth Amendments.
It focuses on a new state law that requires schools to use the preferred name and pronoun of students who are changing sex, and 27J Schools policy that prevents high schools from notifying parents.
The suit names Colorado's education commissioner Susana Córdova and Attorney General Philip Weiser.
Colorado state representative Brandi Bradley, a Republican, says it shows why the Democrat-led law, known as HB24-1039, was poorly conceived.
'We told the dems there would be lawsuits and rightfully so,' Bradley posted.
'The counselors, teachers, and schools have no right stepping into a parental role that takes kids down a path of no return.'
She urged more parents to sue schools and to educate their kids privately.
Jeremy Meyer, a spokesman for Colorado's Department of Education, said the law was there to protect 'students from discrimination and harassment based on their gender identity.'
'The policy was rooted in allowing the student to decide when they were ready to be outed to their parents,' Meyer told The Mail.
Parents are clashing with teachers across the US over whether transgender teenagers can change sex in class without their knowledge.
The court papers also included in its entirety a copy of the Cass Review, a recent British report that found weak evidence for gender-affirming care for trans youth and led to restrictions on puberty blockers to children in the UK.
Schools are under pressure to assist trans students in a fractious political environment, where gender and sex have become a frontline in the culture wars between progressives and conservatives.
School administrators have said they want to involve parents, but must follow a patchwork of federal and state guidelines designed to protect students' privacy, fight discrimination and welcome all comers.
Against this backdrop, parents, kids, teachers, and therapists have to make tough calls about rising rates of transgenderism, mental health issues, peer pressure and whether affirmation-on-demand is always the best answer.
The number of transgender children between the ages of 13 to 17 has doubled to about 1.4 percent, an analysis of government health surveys show.
There's been similar rises in teens seeking puberty blockers, hormones and surgery, insurance data reveal.
Advocates of 'gender-affirming care', as it is known, attribute the rise to more awareness of gender dysphoria and support among clinicians.
Other experts, conservatives and parents warn of an ideologically-driven 'social contagion'.
Disagreements over notifying parents take place alongside debates on whether trans teens can use the school restrooms and compete in sports aligned with their gender identities.
DailyMail.com has spoken with several parents of trans-identifying kids. Many worry that their offspring were influenced to transition by classmates, TikTok influencers, or teachers and school counselors with a drum to beat.
Some do not believe their kids are truly transgender and aim to defer such irreversible steps as puberty blockers or surgery. Many said their child instead had mental health problems, including depression, anxiety, and autism.