This week, the United States Supreme Court rejected an appeal from the parents of a transgender teen who lost custody of their child after they did not affirm his “gender identity.”
Townhall previously reported that the parents, Mary and Jeremy Cox, are Catholic and did not address their son, who identifies as a woman, by his chosen name and preferred pronouns.
In 2021, state officials began investigating the Coxes. The teen was then removed from their custody and placed in a so-called “gender-affirming” home.
"This is what every parent is afraid of," Mary and Jeremy Cox said in a press release. "We love our son and wanted to care for him, but the state of Indiana robbed us of that opportunity by taking him from our home and banning us from speaking to him about gender."
The state dropped its abuse allegations against the parents, but did not return their son to their custody. Their son, the state claimed, had developed an eating disorder from the ordeal.
The couple, represented by the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, petitioned the Supreme Court. The Court declined to hear the case without comment.
“The pain of having our son taken from our home and kept from our care because of our beliefs will stay with us forever,” the parents told the National Catholic Register, adding that “no other loving parents should have to endure what we did.”
“We can’t change the past, but we will continue to fight for a future where parents of faith can raise their children without fear of state officials knocking on their doors.”
Reportedly, when the case was first heard in a trial court, Indiana officials claimed that the child belonged in a home where they would be accepted as a girl.
"Keeping a child away from loving parents because of their religious beliefs—even when the state admits there was no abuse or neglect—is wrong and it’s against the law," Lori Windham, vice president and senior counsel at Becket, reportedly said.
NEW: Catholic Indiana couple appeals to Supreme Court after their child was taken from them after they refused to refer to him as his preferred pronouns.
— Collin Rugg (@CollinRugg) February 21, 2024
Utter insanity.
In 2021, the Indiana Department of Child Services investigated parents Mary and Jeremy Cox and later took… pic.twitter.com/XsFRBKoadn