New Jersey Father Sues School for Secret Gender Transition of Daughter

Increasing numbers of lawsuits hold the potential for a Supreme Court case that could stop schools from secretly promoting childrens’ transgender changes.

The New Jersey Legislature on February 24, 2015 at the Statehouse in Trenton, New Jersey. Jeff Zelevansky/Getty Images

A father is suing a New Jersey school district for allegedly gender-transitioning his daughter in secret.

When he discovered, by accident, that the Delaware Valley Regional High School (DVRHS) had been calling his daughter by a male name and male pronouns for more than two months, it “ripped the heart out of my chest,” the father, John, told The Epoch Times.

“I wanted to friggin' drive the car into a tree,” he said. John chose to remain anonymous to protect his daughter’s identity.

“I was devastated. If a kid gets a headache in school, they have to call the parents to give them Tylenol, but they’re going to choose to allow them to identify as something?”

John has sued the DVRHS Board of Education, superintendent Scott McKinney, school counselor Ashley Miranda, state attorney general Matthew Platkin, state acting commissioner of the New Jersey Department of Education (NJDOE) Angelica Allen-McMillan, and several unnamed school employees and other board members.

The United States District Court for the District of New Jersey will adjudicate the case.

It calls for compensatory, punitive, and consequential damages, as well as a permanent order against the named defendants for allegedly attempting to gender-transition the girl, referred to as Jane.

The Epoch Times reached out to all named individuals in the lawsuit.

The state attorney general’s office declined to comment. Board member Thomas Loughlin also declined comment. Ms. Miranda, Ms. Allen-McMillan, and Mr. McKinney didn’t respond.

Past Trauma, Mental Health

According to the lawsuit, Jane attended DVRHS.

Her mother died when she was 4 years old, John said, and the death harmed Jane’s mental health. She has been in treatment for depression, anxiety, and gender confusion since April 21, 2022, the lawsuit said.

Jane has also been diagnosed with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), Asperger’s syndrome, and borderline personality disorder, the lawsuit states.

John and Jane’s doctors agreed to take a “cautious approach” to Jane’s gender confusion because of her mental health problems, the lawsuit alleges.

“She’s definitely very impressionable, and very vulnerable,” John said. “From a young age, she'd always seek attention, whether it’s negative attention or positive attention, which is understandable.”

As a freshman, Jane joined the school’s Students Advocating for Equality (“SAFE”), which states it works to “promote open discussion and awareness about modern cultures and topics surrounding intersectionality while aiming to make positive contributions to our community and school,” the lawsuit alleged.

A poster in the North Hanover, New Jersey's Upper Elementary School encourages children in fourth to sixth grade to accept sexual minority identities. Photo courtesy of Angela Reading

Activist groups like SAFE target vulnerable children, John said.

“They seek out the weak and impressionable kids,” John said. He says they operate like a gang.

John also discovered that Jane had been interacting on websites in which people had been pushing her into getting a transgender identity, he said.

The SAFE club’s staff advisor, Ms. Miranda, started socially transitioning Jane after Jane said she would like to be a boy, the lawsuit alleged. Ms. Miranda has no state license for practicing medicine or psychology, the lawsuit states.

After this encounter, the lawsuit alleged that Ms. Miranda told the entire school staff that Jane should now be referred to by male pronouns and a male name, and that her father shouldn’t be told of this change.

The only exceptions to this rule were two teachers who knew John personally, the lawsuit alleged.

“The dishonesty is what hurts the most,” John said.

Discovering a Lie

John only learned of his daughter’s transition at school in December 2022, months after it had happened. But something had seemed off for months as the stress of Jane’s double life wore on her, he said.

An LGBT "safe zone" banner in Long Valley Middle School in Long Valley, New Jersey. Courtesy of John Holly

“It seemed like she was more shut down and hiding,” he said. “She was in her room more often.”

John found out about Jane’s secret transition after a fellow parent and neighbor accidentally let the secret slip.

“I heard we have a new neighbor living in your house,” John said the mother of Jane’s schoolmate told him.

“Who is this?” John asked.

“Oh, well, [Jane’s male name],” the mother replied.

“What the hell are you talking about?” John said.

The mother laughed and asked if John didn’t know, he said. Then she told him that Jane had changed her name and pronouns in school.

After learning this information, John removed Jane from school for home instruction, the lawsuit alleged.

The sources advising Jane offered her a “fantasyland” understanding of gender transition, he said. But after he showed her videos of transition’s reality, surgically-changed body parts that get infected again and again, damage to bodies from hormones, and more, Jane started crying, he said.

On Dec. 8, 2023, John met with DVRHS staff and Ms. Miranda to tell them his daughter had a history of past trauma and mental issues, the lawsuit alleges.

At the meeting, school staff said they weren’t aware of these difficulties when they transitioned Jane.

At the end of the meeting, “The District advised that it would continue to have Jane called by a male name until such time as Jane indicated otherwise,” the lawsuit alleged.

Jane’s therapist and doctor told John they approved of temporarily educating her at home rather than at the school, he said. But the school told him they wanted Jane back and that they might have to consider her delinquent, he said.

Children of the State?

NJDOE guidelines recommend that schools support student gender transitions, accept a student’s “asserted gender identity,” and let transgender-identifying students use opposite-sex locker rooms and wear opposite-sex clothing at school.

“There is no affirmative duty for any school district personnel to notify a student’s parent or guardian of the student’s gender identity or expression,” the New Jersey government’s guidelines say.

According to John’s lawyer, Ron Berutti, New Jersey’s guidelines on gender transition aren’t law, but the state has used its anti-discrimination law to give them the force of law.

This choice is an “overly expansive reading of the law against discrimination,” he told The Epoch Times.

A wall of posters in the North Hanover, New Jersey's Upper Elementary School encourages children in fourth to sixth grade to accept sexual minority identities. Photo courtesy of Angela Reading

Even if New Jersey law supports what New Jersey did to Jane and John, it’s likely unconstitutional, Mr. Berutti said.

“Parents have a right under the 14th amendment to the care, custody, and nurture of their children,” Mr. Berutti said, which the Supreme Court has upheld.

It’s possible John’s case could reach the Supreme Court, Mr. Berutti said. If it does and he wins, it could become the law of the land that parents have an absolute right to know whether schools are secretly gender-transitioning their children.

“The idea that a school district can suddenly take control of a child and engage in something as fundamental as trying to change the child’s sexual identity without the parent’s knowledge or consent is really outrageous,” Mr. Berutti said.

If John loses his case, parents might be mobilized to pass an amendment to protect parental rights, Mr. Berutti said.

“I think you'd have millions and millions of people in this country who will be very upset about the sudden change in the relationship between parents and children that has been recognized by the United States Supreme Court.”

In recent history, the Supreme Court has declined to hear cases on transgender bathroom use and cases on allowing men who identify as transgender into women’s college dorms.

John said he wants his daughter out of a school system that feels like she’s been kidnapped.

“They’re taking so much of our children’s lives and making them what they want them to be,” he said.