re: Indiana parents warn nation after child is removed from home for improper pronoun usage

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In 2019, the Coxes’ son informed them that he identified as a girl. But because of their religious belief that God creates human beings with immutable sex — male or female — they could not refer to their child using pronouns and a name inconsistent with what was given at birth.

In 2021, the Indiana Department of Child Services began investigating the Coxes following two reports that they were suspected of abusing or neglecting their child.

“The court emphasized that it was not removing A.C. from the parents’ home due to a disagreement or ‘a child having a certain lifestyle that the parent[s] don’t agree with.’ … ‘There ha[ve] always been issues’ when ‘children do things that the parents don’t agree with,’ the court explained, and those disagreements are ‘not a reason to remove a child from a home,’” according to the state’s brief.

The court ordered A.C. to participate in eating disorder treatment and individual therapy and also ordered the parents and A.C. to continue family therapy. Additionally, the court left in place its order limiting discussion about transgenderism during visitations. The court agreed that it was acceptable to have discussions about A.C. and the parents’ beliefs about gender identity.

“In fact, ‘at some point they have to have that conversation.’ The court emphasized that these conversations should occur within the ‘family therapy that is being ordered’ because of the connection between these conversations and A.C.’s anorexia,” according to the state.

In 2022, Mary and Jeremy appealed the trial court’s orders to the Court of Appeals of Indiana, which affirmed. They then sought rehearing, which the Court of Appeals denied.

Meanwhile, A.C. turned 18 years old and DCS terminated the case.

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