By Daily Mail (U.S.) | Created at 2024-12-10 02:51:33 | Updated at 2024-12-17 00:45:24
6 days ago
A Florida mother says her 13-year-old daughter was placed on a path towards medically transitioning having received encouragement from teachers at her school - yet all without the consent of her parents.
January Littlejohn, 47, says she was both shocked and heartbroken when teachers at her daughter's school allegedly met in private with the teen girl to affirm her belief that she was transgender - all without parental consent.
Littlejohn has now become a vocal critic of policies she says undermined her family in what is a dramatic tale of gender identity and parental rights.
Addressing protesters outside the U.S. Supreme Court last week, Littlejohn recounted her daughter's experience of gender dysphoria and the actions of school officials she claims pushed her child toward a transgender identity.
'I was outraged that three adults had sat alone with my child and agreed to this without my consent,' she said. 'It felt like we were in the twilight zone.'
The situation all began in 2019 when Littlejohn's daughter, then 12, began identifying with a new friend group that embraced various gender identities.
Describing her daughter as 'quirky' and 'unique' but as someone who suffered from low self-esteem, she was initially supportive of her daughter's social circle. But Littlejohn grew alarmed as the group's obsession with gender intensified.
By 13, her daughter was discussing medical interventions such as puberty blockers and top surgery(having her breasts removed) with a casualness that shocked her parents.
Florida mother, January Littlejohn, 47, says her 13-year-old daughter was placed on a path towards medically transitioning having received encouragement from teachers at her school
Littlejohn's daughter, then 12, began identifying with a new friend group that embraced various gender identities. School staff then placed their daughter on a 'gender support plan,' which included discussions about which restrooms she should use
Unbeknownst to them, school staff had already placed their daughter on a 'gender support plan,' which included discussions about which restrooms and locker rooms she would use, pronouns, and rooming arrangements on field trips.
When the next school year began, Littlejohn, who is a licensed mental health counselor, knew her child wanted to start using a different name and warned the school about what they might have to deal with.
She told the school that the family had made the decision not to use her new name but instead seek counseling.
Yet the school did not back Littlejohn's wishes and instead set up its own 'gender plan' for her daughter, the details of which it refused to share.
The school did not consult Littlejohn about her own daughter instead her citing nondiscrimination policies that treated her teenager's gender identity as protected information.
Littlejohn described the school's actions as 'grossly unethical.'
'Why were they not questioning the other issues my daughter was experiencing, like depression and anxiety and her social issues, as opposed to solely affirming this identity that changed four times in two years?' she wondered.
Upon contacting the school's guidance counsellor, she was also blocked from being given any information as she tried to find out what was going on.
January Littlejohn, from Tallahassee, Florida, is pictured speaking outside the Supreme Court as it weighed the legality of a Tennessee law banning puberty blockers and hormone therapy for minors
Littlejohn, left, was particularly concerned how her daughter began cavalierly talking about getting her breasts removed at the age of 13 and taking puberty blockers in the way most people would talk about having their nose pierced or getting a tattoo
Littlejohn now works with the organization Do No Harm, which advocates against identity politics in healthcare
'I was outraged that three adults had sat alone with my child and agreed to this without my consent,' said Littlejohn. '[My daughter] alone had the burden of determining whether or not my husband and I would even be notified that this occurred.'
Her daughter's teachers and medical professionals allegedly suggested she was in fact 'harming' her daughter by refusing to affirm her gender identity.
'I was terrified. I was angry, I was confused,' she said to The Telegraph. 'I ran the school coffee room as a parent volunteer. They knew I was not a danger to my child, but it didn't matter.
'What made me particularly more fearful was where this could lead my daughter,' she continued.
She questioned why educators focused solely on affirming her daughter's gender identity while ignoring underlying issues like her depression and anxiety.
Her refusal to affirm the school's plan strained her relationship with her daughter, whose mental health began to suffer.
'I was watching my child deteriorate, continue to disassociate and grow to hate her developing body, and I was watching teachers from her school cheer her on and celebrate this new identity,' she told the Daily Telegraph.
'She was very cavalierly talking about getting top surgery aged 13 and taking puberty blockers in the way most people would talk about having their nose pierced or getting a tattoo.
'It felt like me and my husband were the only ones trying to stop her from making this irreversible decision.
Littlejohn was told be her daughter's teachers and medical professionals allegedly suggested she was in fact 'harming' her daughter by refusing to affirm her gender identity.
In October 2021, Littlejohn filed a lawsuit against the school district, accusing it of violating her parental rights although the case was dismissed by a judge in 2023
'The light had left her eyes,' Littlejohn went on. 'My daughter was joyful, she was happy, she was quirky, she was full of life, but during this time there was darkness.
'She was so angry, and it was just heartbreaking to watch. And I was so frustrated watching teachers celebrate this false identity.'
Finally after weeks of emails, she was finally shown her daughter's six-page gender plan, designed to ease her social transition.
By the end of eighth grade, Littlejohn and her husband decided to removed their daughter from the school, limiting her internet use and focused on rebuilding their relationship.
Over time, they helped her reconnect with her body and regain her confidence.
'It took us a great deal of time to repair that relationship and to rebuild that trust,' she explained.
Now 17, Littlejohn's daughter is thriving as a college senior but mourns the years lost to what her mother calls 'an ideology that stole two-and-a-half years of her life when she should have been carefree and experiencing normal teenage activities.
'Instead she was miserable, she was depressed, she was anxious, she was hyper-focused on becoming something she could never become.
In October 2021, Littlejohn filed a lawsuit against the school district, accusing it of violating her parental rights.
Although the case was dismissed by a judge in 2023, it catalyzed the passage of Florida's controversial 'Parental Rights in Education' law, signed by Governor Ron DeSantis.
The law restricts classroom instruction on gender identity and sexuality, a move critics argue marginalizes LGBTQ+ students.
Littlejohn now works with the organization Do No Harm, which advocates against identity politics in healthcare.
Speaking outside the Supreme Court to hundreds of people while inside justices weighed the legality of a Tennessee law banning puberty blockers and hormone therapy for minors, she emphasized the broader stakes of her family's ordeal.
'These girls are at war with their bodies and it's a war they're never going to win,' she said.
