NY father loses custody of son after questioning gender transition

Lavender Room
1

Everything about this story is insane.

https://mynbc15.com/news/nation-world/framed-as-a-bigot-ny-father-loses-custody-of-son-after-questioning-gender-transition-software-engineer-dennis-hannon-32-told-the-national-desk-tnd-monday-the-erie-county-supreme-court-upstate-new-york-transgender-lgbtq-rights-trans

“A New York father says a court stripped him of custody of his child after he objected to their gender transition…

“While the transition has allegedly been occurring since the child was two, Hannon said he wasn’t informed until the time his son was five when he received a letter from their kindergarten classroom…

This discovery, Hannon said, led him to the realization that “when he was in his mother’s care, when he was going to school, he was a girl.” Hannon explained his son had undergone a complete social transition, wearing girls’ clothing and using female pronouns.

“I was shocked. I was just floored when I read that they had assigned my son a new name,” Hannon said. “I was essentially the last to know.”

“ Hannon said he later found out his son had been seeing a gender therapist specializing in adolescents who kept no notes of their sessions together. This therapist had referred Hannon’s son to an endocrinologist, who recommended him as a candidate for puberty blocking drugs.

We had a treatment plan before diagnosis. He was never formally diagnosed,” Hannon said. “They had fast tracked my son to puberty blockers without me even knowing.”

Hannon said he then stepped in with legal counsel to prevent his son from using puberty blockers. While the move worked, he said the repercussions were immense.

“I was framed as a bigot. I was framed as I was intolerant and I wouldn’t accept my son for his gender identity and that was not the case,” Hannon said. “I simply questioned it and what it seemed like what they wanted me to do was not question it, but just accept it blindly.”

Hannon says the court went on to rule against him in later proceedings, demanding he pay for the child’s $145-per-session gender therapy. When these sessions still did not yield a diagnosis of gender dysphoria, Hannon requested his child be discharged.

When the court responded by removing his medical authority, Hannon says he appealed the decision, first to a family court, then to two county courts and finally to the Erie County Supreme Court. Hannon says the three-day trial resulted in him losing custody of his son, being only allowed to see him occasionally during the week and on alternating weekends.

“I may have lost in court, but I won where it matters the most because I saved my little boy,” Hannon said. “My son, when this started, he was very young. He didn’t have a voice and everybody wanted to tell him what he wanted to be. So now he’s nine years old and he has a voice and he understands what happened to him.”

2

That seems very odd. Just let the kid figure it out for themselves. That’s what we did with my daughter when she was acting pretty boyish when she was young.

It seems crazy to have a hormone blocking plan in place for a kid that young, not that I know when it would be appropriate. Seems like mom may have been a little to caught up in it and being way too proactive.

3

People want a certain outcome so they send the child to the practitioners who will supply it. I think we will see a wave of people being sued when some of these pts have second thoughts as adults about what happened and there is no documentation of proper assessments. These seems very much like false memory syndrome except it seems like even more damage will be done.

4

Recent NYT op-ed.
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/02/02/opinion/transgender-children-gender-dysphoria.html

5

I smell bullshit.

6

I have no idea if it’s bullshit or not. It wouldn’t surprise me if it were as the father claims. But I also wouldn’t be surprised if there wasn’t significantly more to the story. When people go public with what otherwise should be a private matter, it’s not uncommon for certain relevant details to be twisted or omitted. I’m not in a position to have much of an opinion on this case.

I do recognize that extreme cases are often the ones that make the news or gather attention. Rage and injustices are marketable. And we should be careful about using extreme and unusual cases as the basis for policy decisions, especially when those policy decisions may cast too wide of a net. I’d much prefer in cases like this to take a slow approach, where we listen and investigate and sometimes just give things some time. I’ll also admit that this is a topic that, while perhaps more informed than what I see generally, I know enough to know that I’m still ignorant.

7

I smell bullshit.

This was my thought as well. How could this be happening for 3 years, from 2-5 without him knowing, this seems very odd. I have a hard time believing there were that many people involved, doctors, lawyers, and all of the people involved in the court system, with nobody really questioning what was happening other than the father.

8

Laura Ingraham is on it: https://www.foxnews.com/video/6346444265112
Graphics during the video “Founder of Indoctrinate This, Inc.”
.

9

I smell bullshit.

This was my thought as well. How could this be happening for 3 years, from 2-5 without him knowing, this seems very odd. I have a hard time believing there were that many people involved, doctors, lawyers, and all of the people involved in the court system, with nobody really questioning what was happening other than the father.

Very little of his story makes sense. The only thing that is clear is that the regular court, family court, two county courts and the Erie County Supreme Court all agree that this guy should have limited contact with his son.

This reminds me of a case in Canada. The right-wing echo chamber falsely claimed that a father had been jailed because he refused to recognize his child’s transition. The facts were that father had breached multiple court orders as he launched a campaign of harassment against his kid and used the harassment campaign to raise money from the right-wing outrage machine.

10

“Very little of his story makes sense”

I agree. It sounds like drastic measures taken against the father and I have a hard time believing it is entirely due to his position on the transgender issue. That level of finding out typically requires an unusual amount of fucking around.

11

I smell bullshit.

When you google the name for court dockets all that comes up is his separation and a legal action from Bank of America against him.

Maurice

12

I smell bullshit.

When you google the name for court dockets all that comes up is his separation and a legal action from Bank of America against him.

Maurice

I’ll point out that a significant amount of family court stuff is sealed.

13

Laura Ingraham is on it: https://www.foxnews.com/video/6346444265112
“My son was never diagnosed with gender dysphoria. However, they had a treatment plan before a diagnosis.”

As for the Rob Hoogland case in Canada, he broke gag orders to tell people what was happening in that country’s courts. Other breaches often consisted of him referring to his daughter as female - an objective fact. The Canadian courts made stating an objective fact an act of family violence. https://www.bccourts.ca/jdb-txt/sc/19/02/2019BCSC0254cor1.htm

(c) Attempting to persuade A.B. to abandon treatment for gender dysphoria; addressing A.B. by his birth name; referring to A.B. as a girl or with female pronouns whether to him directly or to third parties; shall be considered to be family violence under s. 38 of the Family Law Act.
In this case, it was also the ex wife that facilitated the transition against the father’s judgment.

2023 update: https://voz.us/canadian-father-jailed-for-objecting-to-daughters-gender-change-wins-in-court-of-appeal/?lang=en

14

I smell bullshit.

I can’t open the link but if it is the same case that made the news in Europe didn’t he change his mind a year later and is living as a boy?

Too much pressure from mother?

Either way the world is so f*ucked up.

15

As for the Rob Hoogland case in Canada, he broke gag orders to tell people what was happening in that country’s courts.

Wrong. He broke gag orders to launch a harassment campaign against his child and ex-wife. This campaign led to wave of harassment and threats directed at his son and his son’s healthcare providers. He used this campaign to grift over $56,000 from hateful dupes. The judge said that when it comes to his contempt of the court’s orders *“there are few cases even remotely comparable.” *The Trans Panic echo chamber that you lived in then deliberately misrepresented his conviction.

Eventually he admitted his actions were wrong. He said he got caught up in the Trans Panic crusade that you are also obsessed with.

"I put my trust in a lot of people and ideas that maybe I should not have.”

He also admitted he liked the attention the anti-Trans jihadists gave him

*“Did I enjoy the publicity? I guess,” *

It worked. You, and the right-wing media, fell for it.

16

I smell bullshit.

I can’t open the link but if it is the same case that made the news in Europe didn’t he change his mind a year later and is living as a boy?

Too much pressure from mother?

Either way the world is so f*ucked up.

No. In the case TMI is misrepresenting the father repeatedly broke court orders so he could harass his family and raise money from idiots. The right-wing echo chamber repeatedly lied about the case and TMI fell for it, like he always does. The child did not change his mind and continues to live in their correct gender 6+ years later.

17

I smell bullshit.

I can’t open the link but if it is the same case that made the news in Europe didn’t he change his mind a year later and is living as a boy?

Too much pressure from mother?

Either way the world is so f*ucked up.

No. In the case TMI is misrepresenting the father repeatedly broke court orders so he could harass his family and raise money from idiots. The right-wing echo chamber repeatedly lied about the case and TMI fell for it, like he always does. The child did not change his mind and continues to live in their correct gender 6+ years later.

In Canada there are mature minor laws, meaning regardless of court order the child has the right to free association…not sure if that age is 14 or 16. Meaning the mature minor has the legal entitlement to ignore no contact orders and pursue contact or apply and enforce them WRT estranged legal guardians/close family etc.

It is telling in this case that the victim has had chosen no contact since 2019 and through their adult years. Effectively via the courts disowning their own father.

Maurice

18

"I put my trust in a lot of people and ideas that maybe I should not have.”
*“Did I enjoy the publicity? I guess,” *

You were remiss in failing to cite the source of your quotes. https://www.thestar.com/news/canada/court-hears-transgender-teen-s-anguish-and-a-father-s-11th-hour-regrets-over-public/article_27d5ab9c-b521-5ee0-8d66-0921c430df8b.html

For anyone still interested, the article also quotes defense lawyer Linde explaining how Hoogland believed his defiance of the court was the only way to draw attention in the media to issues surrounding gender dysphoria - the very point I was trying to make earlier.

19

"I put my trust in a lot of people and ideas that maybe I should not have.”
*“Did I enjoy the publicity? I guess,” *

You were remiss in failing to cite the source of your quotes. https://www.thestar.com/...66-0921c430df8b.html

For anyone still interested, the article also quotes** defense** lawyer Linde explaining how Hoogland believed his defiance of the court was the only way to draw attention in the media to issues surrounding gender dysphoria - the very point I was trying to make earlier.

His lawyer tried to justify the fact that his client repeatedly violated the court order. He failed. The judge did not buy it. Of course the lawyer also repeatedly breached the judges orders himself. The Law Society of B.C. found that Linde repeatedly committed professional misconduct.

Once again you align yourself with extremists who think the rule of law does not apply to them.

20

Another story in the news. And another court gag order, go figure.
https://www.becketlaw.org/media/parents-turn-to-supreme-court-for-justice-after-child-is-removed-by-state/

After completing its investigation, Indiana made an about-face and abandoned all allegations against Mary and Jeremy, admitting that the accusations of abuse were unsubstantiated. However, Indiana surprised the parents by arguing that the disagreement over gender identity was distressing to their child and contributed to his eating disorder—even though that disorder became worse after he was removed and placed in a transition-affirming home. The trial court relied on Indiana’s argument to keep the child out of his parents’ custody and keep the gag order in place. In short, even though the court agreed that the Coxes were fit parents, it upheld the removal of their child. An appeals court upheld the removal.