'This Is What Every Parent Is Afraid Of': Parents Sound The Alarm After Child Taken From Home After 'Wrong' Pronoun Use

A Catholic couple in the Republican-led state of Indiana is sounding the alarm for parents nationwide after the Indiana Department of Child Services removed their son from the home after they refused to affirm his new gender identity and use she/her pronouns.

Mary and Jeremy Cox, citing their Catholic faith, refused to use the improper pronouns for their son and were investigated by Child Services in 2021, two years after the child identified as transgender. The Coxes, who believe that their child is also suffering from an eating disorder, were investigated by the state and were concluded not to have been abusing the child. However, child services personnel concluded that he had to be removed from the home and placed in a "gender-affirming" home.

The Coxes quickly sued the state after their visitation hours with their son were limited to just a few hours a week. While acknowledging that the Coxes were fit parents, the local district court refused to alter the department's decision. The appeals court also sided with the state, which has forced the couple to appeal to the Supreme Court this week.

"Keeping a child away from loving parents because of their religious beliefs—even when the state admits there was no abuse or neglect—is wrong, and it's against the law. The Court should take this case and make clear that other states can't take children away because of ideological disagreements," the Cox family attorney Lori Windham explained to Fox News. "If this can happen in Indiana, it can happen anywhere. Tearing a child away from loving parents because of their religious beliefs, which are shared by millions of Americans, is an outrage to the law, parental rights, and basic human decency. If the Supreme Court doesn't take this case, how many times will this happen to other families?" 

"This is what every parent is afraid of," the parents explained in a press release. "We love our son and wanted to care for him, but the state of Indiana robbed us of that opportunity by taking him from our home and banning us from speaking to him about gender. We are hopeful that the Justices will take our case and protect other parents from having to endure the nightmare we did."

The removal of Jeremy and Mary Cox's son is a tragedy. No parent should have to suffer through what is currently being perpetrated against them by the state. The loving couple have been declared to be fit parents by child services, and yet they are barred from reuniting with their son due to their religious beliefs. Hopefully, the Supreme Court will reverse the lower court decision, and the Coxes can be reunited with their son.

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