A Florida mother has sued her daughter’s school after teachers launched a ‘transgender support plan’ without asking for parental consent, reports say.
January Littlejohn said her then 13-year-old daughter had a group of friends who were ‘obsessed’ with anything to do with the LGBTQ community.
She told how when three of them began identifying as trans or non-binary her daughter said she was confused about her own gender.
She said she and her husband brought their daughter to a councilor to help her work through her confusion and began doing research to understand the subject.
But weeks later the mother revealed school bosses had spoken to the youngster about changing her name and which bathroom she wanted to use.
The case two years ago was cited by Florida Governor Ron DeSantis earlier this year amid his so-called ‘Don’t Say Gay’ bill.
On the day he signed the document – intended to curb Florida schools’ involvement in the gender-education of students – he said it was to protect parents like Littlejohn.
January Littlejohn telling her family’s story at an event held by the Florida Family Policy Council on November 3, 2021
Littlejohn says officials at the Deerlake Middle School in Tallahassee, Florida, gave her daughter a ‘transgender support plan’ to fill out after she expressed gender confusion
The case rose to prominence when DeSantis tweeted about it on March 28 as he signed his so-called ‘Don’t Say Gay’ bill
Littlejohn said during a speech to the Florida Family Policy Council in 2021: ‘She had expressed no signs of gender confusion or distress in early childhood or leading up into this announcement, so we were trying our best to navigate these uncharted waters and support her in the best way we could and help her through her feelings.’
She continued: ‘I also told the teacher that I felt it was directly related to her friend group, that my daughter has ADHD, which puts her emotionally immature and behind her peers.’
When school resumed in 2020, Littlejohn told a teacher at the Deerlake Middle School in Tallahassee, Florida, about the situation and informed her that she and her husband were not affirming their daughter’s new preferred name and pronouns at home while they were working through her feelings, and that they did not feel that transitioning was in her best interest.
Littlejohn also told the teacher that she was okay with her daughter adopting her preferred name as a nickname at school.
But weeks later Littlejohn said after one day school her daughter happily told her she had spoken with officials about changing her name, and they’d asked her which bathroom she wanted to use.
Speaking on Fox & Friends First in May, Littlejohn said her daughter’s middle school told her that she could not be involved in gender discussions without her daughter’s legal consent
Littlejohn, center left, and her husband, right, with their family. Littlejohn and her husband are parents to three. They live in Tallahassee, Florida
The Littlejohns say they were taken aback by their daughter’s gender-confusion. They feel that it was brought on by three of her friends January described as ‘LGBTQ obsessed’
Vernadette Broyles is representing the Littlejohns
Aghast by the discussion the school had had with her daughter without parental consent, Littlejohn called them immediately and asked them about it.
She was told by the school guidance councilor and vice-principal that they could not disclose what had been talked about in the meeting, and that Littlejohn’s daughter needed to give consent by-law for her parents to be informed about or be present for future discussions.
‘My 13-year-old daughter who can’t vote, drink, or enter into any other legal contract without our permission or input,’ Littlejohn said in 2021.
Littlejohn says that after several weeks of back-and-forths with the school district, the principal finally showed her a ‘transgender non conforming student support plan’ that the school had filled out with her daughter.
The Littlejohns say that principal of the Deerlake Middle school, Steven Mills, center, told them the school had the right to legally bar them from discussions about their daughter’s transition
‘This was a six page document that she completed with the vice principal the guidance council, and a social worker I had never met.’
‘They asked her questions that would have absolutely impacted her safety, such as which bathroom she preferred to use, and which sex she preferred to room with on overnight field trips,’ Littlejohn said on Fox & Friends First in May.
The document also asked for the student’s preference on preferred names, pronouns, sports teams and locker rooms, and whether or not they wanted their parents to be informed about their transition.
‘The plan also stated to use her birth name when speaking to us in effect to deceive us of the social transition that had occurred,’ Littlejohn said.
Littlejohn and her husband sued the school for violating their parental rights at the end of 2021. The school filed a motion for dismissal, and the Littlejohns and their attorney, Vernadette Broyles, are waiting on the results of their opposition to that filing.
Broyles told Fox & Friends First that the Littlejohns are only one set of many parents across the country who are experiencing the same kind of behavior surrounding gender from their children’s schools.
‘What’s most important is that parents around the country are beginning to discover almost exactly the same kind of guidance in their own school districts. We’ve filed a lawsuit in Massachusetts, there are lawsuits in Wisconsin, Maryland, Oregon, California,’ Broyles said on Fox & Friends First.
‘This is a national agenda, and parents need to recognize they have the right to direct the upbringing, education, care, medical decisions, mental health decisions of their child, and they need to assert that right with their school,’ Broyles said.
The case rose to prominence when DeSantis tweeted about it as he tried to get his new bill passed earlier this year.
His parental rights bill bans teachers from giving classroom instruction on ‘sexual orientation’ or ‘gender identity’ in kindergarten through third grade.
He posted on March 28: ‘The bill I signed today protects Florida parents like January Littlejohn. School officials manipulated her daughter to ”transition,” calling her a male name & pronouns without January’s knowledge or consent. This is wrong & today’s legislation will ensure it doesn’t happen again.’