A transgender teen is suing his parents for denying him medical intervention
The legal battle has been ongoing since 2014
A transgender boy in Ohio is suing his parents for not allowing him to access a medical intervention.
The 16-year-old’s parents are offering him “Christian-based therapy” as an alternative.
After his mother told him to kill himself, the unnamed teen emailed a crisis charity last year, according to the legal complaint.
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The teenager wants to transition, but court documents say his parents have refused therapy services from the Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Centre.
They also refused to allow him to change his “appearance to a male look.”
Court documents also state that the mother screamed: “You’re a liar!” at the teen when he read a letter during a therapy meeting at the Children’s Hospital.
The teen started shaking and curled into “the fetal position,” the complaint added.
(Mark Makela/Getty Images)
He also accused his parents of making him listen to Bible passages for more than six hours at a time.
This came after he had been visiting the hospital for therapy – until his parents decided they would rather he received so-called treatment from a Christian therapist.
The therapy was eventually restarted after the teen experienced bouts of anxiety and depression.
It was during this time his father was told by a therapist that the teen didn’t “have the coping skills to manage the home situation.”
Ohio social workers are siding with the teen against his parents, asking for him to receive treatment at a hospital rather than so-called ‘gay cure’ therapy.
The complaint was filed in Hamilton County Juvenile Court, with a hearing scheduled for Tuesday.
(DEREK R. HENKLE/AFP/Getty Images)
Cincinnati prohibits doctors or therapists from practising so-called conversion therapy on gay and trans individuals.
This is accordance with a 2015 ban passed largely as a result of Leelah Alcorn’s death.
Alcorn was a trans teenager, also from the state of Ohio, who in 2014 walked into traffic and was killed.
Her parents refused to accept her trans identity and would only take her to Christian so-called conversion therapies.
Some cited this as grounds for her parents to be prosecuted.
Before taking her own life, Alcorn posted a note on Tumblr that called for better education and awareness on trans lives.
