A Colorado couple is suing a school and state officials after a tutor helped their 14-year-old daughter become a boy in class while leaving them in the dark.
The parents, identified in court documents as John and Jane Doe, say Brighton High School, in the Denver suburbs, helped the anxious and depressed teen transition without informing them.
A counselor even put the girl in touch with a therapist, who was transgender herself, and suggested the girl take opposite-sex hormones and have her breasts surgically amputated.
The daughter, known as AD and now 16 years old, identifies as a girl again and regrets her transition.
The parents are seeking a jury trial, damages, payment of their legal fees, and changes to state law and school policy so that other families are not harmed.
Brighton High School, in the Denver suburbs, is one of 33 schools in the 27J district
Colorado is in turmoil over whether sex-reassignment drugs are the best option for trans youth
It is the latest in a series of lawsuits targeting teachers and clinicians who help children transition, despite growing evidence that medical gender reassignment can have harmful consequences.
“It all happened in secret, for months without our clients knowing,” said the couple’s attorney, Eric Sell, of the conservative Center For American Liberty.
“Parents have the constitutional right to consent and be informed about the treatment provided by the government.”
“This is not something that schools should do ad hoc at the request of the child,” he adds.
The 27J Schools district, which is responsible for about 23,000 students at 33 schools, told The Mail it could not comment on an ongoing lawsuit. State officials did not respond to our emails.
According to the 523-page lawsuit, AD suffered from depression, anxiety disorders and identified as a boy after entering high school in 2022.
She told this to a counselor, who focused on the girl’s transgender identity and whether her parents would affirm her, rather than her other mental health issues, it is alleged.
Documents show that the mentor helped AD change her pronouns and name to ZD in class, and put her in the school database so teachers knew to keep her parents out of the picture.
The girl was referred to a transgender therapist, and she used the counselor’s office and computer for these online sessions so her parents wouldn’t find out.
In it the therapist said to her, “You are a boy.”
The documents show they discussed “taking testosterone and having a mastectomy as the next steps” in her transition.
But the girl’s withdrawal and fear grew worse.
In March 2023, the parents learned about their daughter’s transition and ended therapy sessions.
AD told her parents that she wanted to take testosterone and have a mastectomy, but her father and mother were against it.
Colorado Education Commissioner Susana Córdova (left) and Attorney General Philip Weiser are named in the lawsuit
Protests over gender and sex changes have roiled Colorado, leading to this protest at a Denver appeals court in May
“They wanted their daughter to explore the root of her problems through therapy, rather than seeing transition as a magic bullet that would solve all of her problems,” the lawsuit said.
In March 2024, AD began to regret her transition and started living as a girl again.
“She now believes that her previous identification as a boy was an unconscious attempt to cover up her other mental health issues,” the lawsuit said.
However, the parents are concerned that her LGBTQ+ classmates will no longer accept her as a girl and may “pressure” her to transition again, the documents show.
This is complicated by the fact that the school is LGBTQ-friendly, with rainbow flags and clubs, but is “neutral” toward heterosexual children, the lawsuit says.
The parents say the state, the Department of Education and the 27J School District violated their constitutional rights by encouraging the secret gender transition.
It was filed on August 7 in the U.S. District Court for the District of Colorado and cites the First and Fourteenth Amendments.
The focus is on a new state law that requires schools to use the preferred name and pronoun of students who transition gender, and on 27J Schools’ policy that prohibits high schools from notifying parents.
The lawsuit names Colorado Education Commissioner Susana Córdova and Attorney General Philip Weiser.
Colorado Rep. Brandi Bradley, a Republican, said it shows why the Democratic-sponsored bill, known as HB24-1039, was poorly conceived.
“We told Democrats there would be lawsuits, and we were right,” Bradley posted.
‘The counselors, teachers and schools do not have the right to take on the role of parents and send children down a path of no return.’
She urged more parents to sue schools and provide private education for their children.
The court documents include 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 for children in the UK.
Parents are clashing with teachers in the US over whether transgender teens should be allowed to change gender in class without their knowledge.
Schools are under pressure to serve transgender students in a politically divided environment, where gender and sex have become key factors in the culture war between progressives and conservatives.
School boards have said they want to involve parents, but must adhere to a patchwork of federal and provincial guidelines designed to protect student privacy, combat discrimination and be welcoming to all.
Against this backdrop, parents, children, teachers and therapists must make difficult decisions about rising rates of transgenderism, mental health issues, peer pressure and whether affirmation on demand is always the best response.
An analysis of government health surveys shows the number of transgender people aged 13 to 17 has doubled to about 1.4 percent.
Insurance data shows a similar increase among teens seeking puberty blockers, hormones and surgeries.
Advocates of “gender-affirming care,” as it’s called, attribute the increase to greater awareness of gender dysphoria and the support doctors receive for it.
Other experts, conservatives and parents warn of an ideologically driven “social contagion.”
There is disagreement about informing parents and debate over whether transgender teens should be allowed to use school bathrooms and participate in sports that match their gender identity.
DailyMail.com spoke to several parents of transgender children, many of whom worry that their children have been influenced to transition by being beaten with a drum by classmates, TikTok influencers or teachers and school counselors.
Some don’t believe their children are actually transgender and want to postpone irreversible steps like puberty blockers or surgery. Many said their child instead had mental health issues, including depression, anxiety and autism.