The ugliest aspect of divorce has always been the devastating impact on children caught in the middle—and with the arrival of the transgender trend, the stakes have escalated.
The case of Texas father Jeff Younger, who recently lost his desperate court battle to prevent his ex-wife—who moved to California with their two 9-year-old boys—from “transitioning” his son James. Younger says his ex-wife put their son in dresses and told him he was a girl, and he is completely helpless to stop her from “chemically castrating his son.” Younger says she moved with their boys, who are in her custody, to California for just that reason—Governor Gavin Newsom’s “transgender sanctuary law” came into effect on New Year’s Eve.
Stories of couples divided over the gender status of their children are becoming more common. Last August, former NBA star Dwyane Wade filed with the Los Angeles County Superior Court to have his 15-year-old son’s name changed to Zaya. Wade says his son now identifies as a girl, and told his ex-wife Siohvaughn Funches-Wade that his name was going to be changed, a move he called “a courtesy.” Funches-Wade filed her own court documents in November, stating that the name change violated their custody agreement and asking the LA County Superior Court to reject it.
According to the boy’s mother, Wade “may be pressuring our child to move forward with the name and gender change in order to capitalize on the financial opportunities that he has received from companies” due to his status as the father of a “transgender child.” As I noted in this space in 2020, Wade had eagerly told Ellen DeGeneres that he and his current wife actress Gabrielle Union were “proud parents of a child in the LGBTQ+ community,” joining a growing trend of celebrities with gender-confused children. He did not mention that he told his ex-wife—according to her allegation—that “a lot of money has already been made and that additional money will be made in relation to our child’s name and gender issue.”
