In James Younger transgender case, judge grants parents joint medical, psychiatric authority

October 24, 2019 CNA Daily News News Briefs 5 Print

Austin, Texas, Oct 24, 2019 / 05:38 pm (CNA).- A Texas judge granted Jeffrey Younger and Anne Georgulas joint managing conservatorship of their son, James Younger, over whose gender identity his parents have argued in court.

The decision, given by Judge Kim Cooks of a Texas Family District Court, means that both parents have equal decision-making power in their child’s medical, dental and psychiatric treatment, The Texan reported.

Georgulas, who believes James identifies as a girl named Luna, will now have to obtain the consent of Younger before allowing James to undergo any hormonal or psychiatric “gender affirmation treatment.”

Yesterday, a jury ruled against a petition from Younger to obtain sole custody of James and his twin brother Jude, which he filed in an attempt to protect James from “gender-changing” interventions by Georgulas.

Georgulas is reported to believe James identifies as a girl in part because of his affinity for the Disney movie “Frozen” and its female character leads, along with other feminine preferences in toys. She has wanted to affirm James’ identity as a girl, while Younger has advocated for a “watchful waiting” approach to see if James changes his mind as he matures, The Texan reported.

According to the Washington Examiner, expert witnesses called in the court expressed doubts as to whether James actually strongly identifies as female. Younger has said that James identifies as a boy while he is in the care of his father.

Georgulas reportedly wanted to enroll James as a patient at the GENECIS in Dallas in their “Gender Affirming Care Program” for youth. On its website, the clinic says it offers hormone therapy and puberty suppression therapy along with mental health and social services. It does not currently offer “gender transition” surgery. Georgulas and Younger now have joint decision-making power over James’ enrollment in the program. Judge Cooks also reportedly issued a gag order against Jeffrey Younger, which means he is not allowed to discuss the case with members of the press.

The case of James Younger was met with outrage from critics who say it raises seriously ethical concerns regarding the rights of parents and the best interests of children experiencing gender dysphoria.

Several state representatives vowed to draft legislation that would protect children against hormonal treatments for gender dysphoria because of the Younger case.

“Absent a special session between now & the 87th Session, I will introduce legislation that prohibits the use of puberty blockers in these situations for children under 18. We missed our opportunity to do so in the 86th Session. We won’t miss the next one. #savejamesyounger,” State Rep. Matt Krause (R) said on Twitter.

Reps. Jared Patterson (R) and Cody Harris (R) both voiced their support for such legislation in tweeted replies to Krause.

Governor Greg Abbott tweeted that “the matter of 7 year old James Younger is being looked into by the Texas Attorney General’s Office and the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services. #JamesYounger.”

According to The Texan, Rep. Chip Roy (R) sent a letter about the issue to U.S. Attorney General Bill Barr, the director of the National Institutes of Health, and the director of the National Drug Control Policy, asking for a “federal study on individuals who undergo sex-reassignment surgery or hormone treatment before the age of 18,” and the potential harmful consequences of such procedures.

 

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Chicago pregnancy center vandalized as Democratic National Convention closes

August 23, 2024 Catholic News Agency 3
A Catholic pregnancy center called “Aid for Women” in north Chicago’s Edgewater neighborhood was vandalized with red paint and the words “fake clinic” and “the dead babies are in Gaza” at 3 a.m. on Friday, Aug. 23, just hours after the closing of the Democratic National Convention. Mary FioRito, a spokesperson for the center, said that vandals also cemented the doors shut, forcing the nonprofit to cancel appointments for around 12 women. / Credit: Photo courtesy of Aid for Women.

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Aug 23, 2024 / 18:37 pm (CNA).

A Catholic pregnancy center in Chicago called “Aid for Women” was vandalized in the early morning hours after the closing of the Democratic National Convention.

No one was present at the center at the time of the incident. Police have been contacted and are investigating the incident as a violation of the Freedom of Clinic Entrances (FACE) Act, according to Mary FioRito, a fellow at the Ethics and Public Policy Center and a spokesperson for Aid for Women.

Aid for Women is a non-profit which according to its website was “founded on the faith and teachings of the Catholic Church.” 

The nonprofit operates five pregnancy centers and two maternity homes in the Chicago area. The group partners with the Archdiocese of Chicago and offers a range of services including ultrasounds, abortion pill reversal medications, counseling, and material aid.

FioRito, who has been a regular volunteer at Aid for Women for over two decades, told CNA that the incident occurred in north Chicago’s Edgewater neighborhood at 3 a.m. Friday morning, hours after the DNC’s final closing.

The act of vandalism was caught on the center’s security camera. The footage has now been turned over to police.

According to FioRito, four vandals splattered red paint and painted the words “fake clinic” and “the dead babies are in Gaza” on the center’s entrance. FioRito said that the vandals also cemented the center’s doors shut, forcing staff to cancel all appointments on Friday — which she said were with about a dozen women.

The doors at "Aid for Women," a Catholic pregnancy center in north Chicago, were cemented shut by vandals at 3 a.m. on Aug. 23, 2024, hours after the closing of the Democratic National Convention. Credit: Photo courtesy of Aid for Women.
The doors at “Aid for Women,” a Catholic pregnancy center in north Chicago, were cemented shut by vandals at 3 a.m. on Aug. 23, 2024, hours after the closing of the Democratic National Convention. Credit: Photo courtesy of Aid for Women.

As of Friday afternoon, the center’s doors were still cemented shut and there is no timeline on when it will be able to reopen. FioRito said that this means the Aid for Women pregnancy center may have to cancel its appointments or ask women to visit another location on Saturday, which FioRito said is their busiest day.

FioRito said that when she saw the pictures of the damage to the center she was “horrified.”  

Addressing the vandals she said: “You’re not hurting us; you’re hurting these women.”

“These are working-class women. A lot of stuff for them is a struggle. Why would you do this to women who already are facing so many obstacles? It baffles me,” she said.

The act of vandalism was caught on the center’s security camera. The footage has now been turned over to police.

According to FioRito, there was an unusually low police presence in the neighborhood at the time of the incident due to the DNC which took place in another part of town.  

FioRito lamented that pregnancy centers have borne the brunt of anti-abortion anger since the overturn of Roe v. Wade in 2022.

“It’s so strange to me that pregnancy centers are somehow the collateral damage of all this anger over Roe being overturned because the pregnancy centers didn’t have anything to do with it,” she said. “Pregnancy centers are largely apolitical … they are not political advocates, they are not legal advocates, they simply help women.”

Edgewater is an urban neighborhood as culturally diverse and “not a wealthy neighborhood.”

“Many of the women we serve are not women of means,” she said. “Pregnancy is hard enough. You don’t need something like this layered on top of it, making your life even harder.”

“If the people who did this were intending to hurt the pro-life movement or get back at the pro-life movement for Dobbs, all they’re really hurting is poor women when they do something like this,” said FioRito.

The DNC took place at Chicago’s United Center this week, Aug. 19-22. Several of the Democratic speakers, including Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris, highlighted abortion as a central issue in the 2024 election and condemned pro-life attempts to restrict abortion.

A local Planned Parenthood operated a free mobile abortion clinic just outside the convention. Planned Parenthood Great Rivers reported on Thursday that the mobile clinic had provided nine vasectomies and eight chemical abortions.

[…]

4 Comments

  1. Praise God.
    I’m guessing if the case had been in another state and not in Texas, things might have ended differently.
    In the coming decades it’s hard to imagine that there won’t be many malpractice and other suits filed by individuals who were medically experimented upon as children. It’s not unlike the eugenic surgeries of a previous generation. We see gender as something to be erased, a hundred years ago it was race, ethnicity or disability.

    Reply

  2. I have been reading about this case on many websites, but no one has commented on a point of interest to me. That is, that the child’s legal mother is not the biological mother. I am curious as to who donated the eggs (the actual, biological mother), and what her stance might be? In the past, I recall various legal matters where a biological parent was able to interject and influence a case, even if some contract had previously been signed giving parental rights to another (as is typical with donating eggs).

    Reply

    • Thank you for mentioning that. I’d brought that up also in a comment in a previous article.
      I heard someone speculate that the mother receiving the IVF treatment may have really wanted a boy and a girl all along. Who knows, but when you separate procreation from what God intended you can end up with all sorts of unintended consequences. And ultimately everyone involved suffers.

      Reply

  3. I also noticed the left leaning news articles are trying to make this into a partisan thing. It is not.
    It is child abuse.
    God bless

    Reply

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