A Minnesota mom who filed a lawsuit against her daughter over gender transition in 2016 has petitioned the U.S. Supreme Court to hear her case.
The petition was file Wednesday, according to CNBC. The Justices will decided whether to take the case after their summer recess.
The mother and daughter are from St. Louis County, which is in the northeastern part of the state and includes the capital of Duluth.
In 2016, Anmarie Calgaro sued her transgender daughter, identified in court papers as E.J.K., after she emancipated herself and began gender transition care.
When E.J.K. was 15, a legal aid clinic helped her with a letter that concluded that she was “legally emancipated.”
Using that document, E.J.K began seeking gender transition care, “including potential surgery” and prescription medication, from two providers. But when the mother found out, she sued her daughter and the health clinics and agencies that helped her with the process.
A district court ruled against Calgaro in 2017, and the decision was affirmed by a three-judge panel of the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals last March.
Attorneys for the mother said that she “retained her unconditional love” for her daughter, according to CNBC. In court documents, they continually misgendered E.J.K..
Calgaro also wanted to be viewed as a concerned parent, whenever she’d appear at a press conference. But that’s not how the daughter remembers the story.
According to court records, E.J.K. who has identified as a girl from a very young age, grew up with parents who had a substance abuse problem.
When she came out as gay at 23, her mother and stepfather became verbally and physically abusive towards her, according to NBC News. At 15, she moved in with her biological father, but shortly after that, he got incarcerated and she got an apartment of her own.
The mother is being represented by attorneys with the Thomas More Society, a Chicago-based law firm “dedicated to restoring respect in law for life, family, and religious liberty,” according to its website description.
The petition alleges that her “parental Due Process Clause rights” were violated by St. Louis County, medical providers and the St. Louis County School District.
