By Chet Nagle ——Bio and Archives--February 26, 2024
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A married couple is asking the Supreme Court to prohibit Indiana from taking their son out of their home after they refused to use his feminine name and she/her pronouns. How could such a bizarre decision by Indiana have happened?
Mary and Jeremy Cox are devout Christians who believe God created mankind as male and female and were shocked when their teenage son left them a note in 2019 telling them that he identified as a girl. They discussed their beliefs with him and they found a middle ground by calling him “A” and not referring to him by using she/her pronouns.
The Cox’s then provided their son with mental health therapeutic care and with appointments with a specialist to help him with his eating disorder.
The state of Indiana investigated Mary and Jeremy in 2021 after receiving a complaint they were not referring to their son with his preferred gender and pronouns at home. The Indiana Department of Child Services then took the teenager from their parental custody and placed him in a "gender-affirming" home!
In 2021 the Cox’s engaged Becket, a firm that defends all religious faiths, and the case of M.C. and J.C. v. Indiana Department of Child Services was born.
The Becket site recounts: “At the initial trial court hearing, Indiana officials argued the child “should be in a home where she is accepted for who she is.” The court then restricted Mary and Jeremy’s visitation time to a few hours once a week and issued a gag order that prohibits them from speaking to their son about human sexuality and gender identity.
The Becket site continues: “After completing its investigation, Indiana made an about-face and abandoned all allegations against Mary and Jeremy, admitting that the accusations of abuse and neglect were unsubstantiated. State officials then surprised the parents by pointing to the disagreement over gender as a reason to keep him away from his parents. The state said it contributed to an eating disorder, even though that disorder became worse after he was removed and placed in a transition-affirming home. The court relied on Indiana’s argument to keep the child out of his parents’ custody and kept the gag........