CINCINNATI — A transgender teen is suing his parents to be allowed to start transition therapy. His parents are insisting he go into “Christian-based” therapy and deny he’s transgender.
Cincinnati.com reported on Wednesday that a Hamilton County, Ohio judge will be deciding the issue. The parents are refusing to let the 16-year-old, who has not been named in media reports, to start transitioning at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center and will not let him present as a male.
From Cincinnati.com:
The teen has reported that he was once forced to sit in a room and listen to Bible scriptures for more than six hours at a time, the documents say.
The case is in Hamilton County Juvenile Court. County social workers are asking a visiting judge, Sylvia Hendon, to order treatment for the teen at Children’s Hospital.
In court Tuesday, attorneys for all parties asked the courtroom to be closed to the media. Hendon granted that request. But before the courtroom was closed, an attorney for the parents, Karen Brinkman, said there are allegations in the complaint that are not true.
Among the allegations are that in November 2016 that one of his parents had told him to kill himself and refused to let him get therapy “unless it was Christian-based.”
Hamilton County Job and Family Services filed a complaint and got temporary custody of the boy earlier this year. The website noted the similarities to Leelah Alcorn, a transgender girl who committed suicide in Ohio in 2014 after her evangelical Christian parents tried to put her in conversion therapy.
The hearing is scheduled to continue on Thursday, Cincinnati.com reported.
