A Swiss couple had their daughter taken away by authorities after they refused to allow her to change her gender.
According to a lawsuit, doctors had been trying to administer puberty blockers to their 16-year-old daughter without their consent.
Europeanconservative.com reports: The ordeal began in 2021 when their then 13-year-old daughter, known only as “C” to protect her identity, told the family she wanted to ‘transition’ to male, despite not having shown “any signs before,” according to her father. The girl had previously experienced other mental health issues.
The Swiss government has stolen a child from her parents, after they refused to give their girl puberty blockers!
— Billboard Chris 🇨🇦🇺🇸 (@BillboardChris) July 11, 2024
For more than a year, she has been placed in a government home, and authorities may now begin medically transitioning her without her parents’ consent!
“We, as… pic.twitter.com/EVnoO0RSK2
After consultations at a local hospital in Geneva, “C” was officially diagnosed with gender dysphoria, despite a private psychiatrist hired by the family disagreeing with the diagnosis. The doctors told the parents their daughter should take puberty blockers, which the parents refused, choosing instead to get private mental health care for their child.
Her parents believe their daughter’s condition was influenced by isolation and time spent online during the pandemic.
“C” then requested to ‘socially transition’ (change her name and pronouns) at her private school—again, against her parents’ wishes. The Cass Review, published in the UK earlier this year, shows that ‘social transition’ often paves the way for irreversible physical intervention such as puberty blockers, hormone treatment, and surgical alteration of the body.
In the spring of 2023, the school psychologist who had seen the teen claimed she feared “suicidal acts” if “C” was not allowed to ‘transition,’ and alerted child protection authorities. The school also liaised with a transgender charity, Le Refuge.
After a meeting between the parents and child welfare agency Service de Protection des Mineurs (SPMI)—in which the parents were accused of abuse for not going along with what the authorities suggested—“C” was removed from the home, hospitalised, and put into a government shelter.
In statements to the press, the family blamed an “alliance between the school, the Swiss Child Protection Agency, and the Swiss hospital in Geneva” for influencing their daughter against their wishes. They also said the transgender charity Le Refuge pushed for the child’s gender transition.
“We were very clear with the school, that we did not believe it was up to the school to socially transition our daughter. We learned that the school psychologist was getting in and was feeding my daughter with materials, putting her in contact with Le Refuge,” the parents said.
Gender transition for underage teens is regulated in Switzerland by the Swiss Pediatric Endocrinology and Diabetes Society (SPED). Regulations allow for parental consent to be overridden following legal approval.
“I feel powerless,” “C”’s mother said, adding, “I love my child. She is only 16 years old. She cannot make such a decision. She needs a mother and her family.”
Speaking about the plight of the family, lead lawyer on the case, Dr. Felix Böllmann of ADF, said the couple was “living every parent’s worst nightmare.” He also warned of the wider implications if the practice of taking children who wish to transition against their parents’ wishes into care is normalised. Böllman said the actions of the Swiss authorities violate national and international law.
Not only have these parents committed no wrong, they absolutely must have their child returned home and are under no obligation to consent to the authority’s demands to allow dangerous medical interventions.
The teen’s case has attracted international attention as part of a broader effort to affirm parental rights regarding gender transitions, two years after Swiss authorities liberalised the process for changing gender.
Official statistics from the Swiss health service show that at least a dozen children have undergone gender reassignment surgery since 2018. The number of sex change operations multiplied by 1,100% over the past seven years.
More and more countries—including Finland, Sweden, France, and the UK—have reversed course and no longer endorse ‘gender transition’ treatment in light of the irreversible harm it causes.