The number of teenagers identifying as transgender has exploded. Advocates say it protects young people from marginalization. Some experts, however, many of whom consider themselves survivors, warn against treating adolescent confusion with drugs and surgeries that have irreversible physical and psychological effects. In the second part of this series, the Washington Examiner speaks to the mothers affected.
Abby Martinez tried to fight back when a Los Angeles school, county social workers, and an LGBT group sought to transition her confused 15-year-old daughter.
But once Yaeli Martinez was moved into foster care and later injected with testosterone, the heartbroken mother could only watch helplessly as the girl spiraled into depression that ended when she stepped in front of an oncoming train.
“They killed my daughter,” a tearful Martinez told the Washington Examiner. “They had to pick pieces of her off of the track.”
At the funeral home, Martinez begged to see her daughter for the last time, even if it was just a hand or foot.
“The gentleman from the funeral home told me there’s nothing really that you can see or recognize,” Martinez said.
‘WE ARE JUST GUINEA PIGS’: WOMEN DESCRIBE TRAUMA OF TRANSITIONING AS TEENAGERS
The tragic plight of Yaeli, who went by the name Andrew when she died at 19, is a familiar tale for parents across the nation who have lost rights to their children for pushing back against gender transitioning procedures in many states. As a result, parents have been mobilizing in grassroots groups to support each other, resist medical intervention, and hang on to their children.
One such group, Moms for Liberty, was founded by two Florida school board members when they saw critical race theory and gender theory promoted in schools.
“These kids are getting sucked into this,” said co-founder Tiffany Justice.
“The more you pull on this thread, you will be shocked,” said a Brooklyn parent named Emmaline who started a Substack blog on the issue. “We have been lied to, brainwashed and manipulated — all to turn my child’s nonconformity and anxiety into a pharmaceutical product.”
Emmaline took a crash course in child dysphoria three years ago when her 12-year-old daughter suddenly announced she was gay, then later decided she was transgender. Emmaline was working long hours and didn’t realize that the girl had been spending hours online being exposed to the transgender movement. What she learned shocked her.
“It’s a cult,” Emmaline told the Washington Examiner. “It seems like there is a trans kid on every block. This is New York – everything reinforces this, even religious institutions. There is no escape.”
Emmaline’s blog, Bettercare, has the motto: “I’m just a mom trying to change the world to save my kid. I’m new to this sort of thing.”
“We don’t need to be in the matrix anymore,” Emmaline said. “We have been engineered into this drip of pharmaceuticals and medical intervention.”
Emmaline’s orbit has reached thousands of parents who have similar tales: children who have mental issues and trouble adjusting at school suddenly declaring they are transgender after learning about the lifestyle online or at school. Counselors and a doctor wanted to transition the girl, but Emmaline pushed back with constant education and refusal to pay for any medical procedures. Her daughter is slowly swinging back to her female self.
In Utah, Sharon fought back with everything she had.
Her daughter Sari said she was nonbinary at age 13, then later transgender with the name Alan. Like Emmaline’s daughter, both teenagers were groomed to use small steps to let their parents know they are transitioning.
Sari was the typical stereotype: bullied at school, friendless, and in therapy. She learned about the transgender movement on the gaming site Discord and contact through a family friend.
Sharon shut down all the apps on Sari’s phone, locked her out of social media on the home computer, and forbid her from seeing the friend. Then, she enrolled Sari in a different school and told the counselors and teachers that they were not allowed to call her daughter by anything other than her birth name.
Unlike some states, Utah law defers to parental rights with children.
“The law here is that you have to do what the parents tell you to do,” Sharon said. “If I didn’t say anything, the school would do what the child wants.”
Sharon did a crash course on what Sari had been learning and was horrified. The computer history revealed YouTube videos on how to deceive your parents and ways to get mastectomies and testosterone shots.
“I figured out the algorithms to this and was getting more and more sick to my stomach,” she said. “I tried to direct her into something else, but it seemed like every group I found, she would come in contact with transgenders.”
Sharon now seems to have won the battle with her daughter. The family refused to use the name Alan, although Sari was allowed to dress as she pleases. Her biggest moment of success is when Sari started wearing skinny girl jeans.
But other families have not been as successful. Jeannette Cooper of Chicago lost a custody battle with her ex-husband because her daughter didn’t think she would be supportive of her new transgender lifestyle.
The girl, who was in the eighth grade, told her stepmother, “I’m trans, and if I tell my mom, she will kill me.”
So her ex went to court and fought for full custody, which was approved, despite the fact that Cooper would have supported her daughter if given the chance, but it was never discussed.
“We’ve never talked about gender,” Cooper said. “My ex said our child wanted this to be a secret, and I learned they had been plotting this for months.”
The girl decided to transition because she was bullied at school without intervention from teachers. Once she declared herself transgender, she was awarded protection.
Then, the court decided that “there was a trans kid, and she was going to save the trans kid from the mom, and that’s what she did. Even though there are no facts to back this up that I wasn’t supportive.”
Cooper was only allowed to communicate with her daughter through postal mail and did not see her for two years until the pair recently had lunch.
“There is nothing I can do, I send her loving letters,” Cooper said. “She writes back every three months. She just joined the boys’ volleyball team.”
But for Abigail Martinez, there is no communication with her daughter. Like Cooper, a court decided that she would no longer have custody and placed Yaeli in a foster home so she could transition into a boy named Andrew.
Yaeli had been in therapy since she was 6 and suffered from depression and attention deficit disorder. She was always a “girly girl” but suffered from low self-esteem. The Los Angeles LGBT Center had a presence at school and, combined with the counselors, they groomed Yaeli into identifying as a boy, Martinez said.
“She was telling everyone that she’s trans and wants us to call her Andrew. I told her, ‘We’re not ready for that,” Martinez said. “The LGBT was telling her the state would pay for all of her surgery. If you are unhappy and hate your body, go for it.”
Yaeli ran away from home, which caused county child welfare workers to visit Martinez’s home. They decided to bring a court petition against Martinez, who said she had a loving home with four children raised to love God.
“The county told me that my daughter would be better off out of the house,” she said. “I tried my best to get her back, going to court every month.”
A judge decided that Martinez could see her daughter one hour a week, and social workers ordered her not to mention God during those visits.
Ultimately, Yaeli was not able to obtain testosterone or any other medical treatment while living in the foster home because Martinez would not agree to it, as California requires parental consent for major medical treatment on minors. But when she turned 18, Childrens Hospital of Los Angeles began puberty blockers and testosterone treatment.
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER
Yaeli died a year later, still battling her demons and making a mockery of the county’s stance that children commit suicide when denied transgender medical care. Neither the county, the school, nor the LGBT group have reached out to Martinez since.
When asked for comment, the Department of Children and Family Services said, “We extend our deepest condolences to the family and friends of Andrew M., as well as to the LGBTQIA community which advocates relentlessly to protect its youngest and most vulnerable members from such tragedies …To buffer the impact of negative external factors, we have aggressively pursued the implementation of inclusive, gender-affirming laws, policies and supportive services for LGBTQ+ youth.”
