DALLAS, Texas, November 28, 2018 (LifeSiteNews) – A six-year-old Texas boy is being dressed and presented as a girl by his mother; at the same time, she is threatening the boy’s father legally for not going along with her plan for their son to live as a girl.

James lives as a girl when with his mother, but when with his father and given the choice, the six-year-old boy lives as a boy.

Jeffrey Younger is currently prohibited by court order from affirming in any way his son’s sex, including imparting Christian teaching on gender and sexuality to James.

In addition to the medical and psychological risks to children associated with so-called gender transitioning, the case has implications for parental rights related to religious freedom, freedom of speech, and due process.

Anne Georgulas has charged Younger, her ex-husband and James’s father, with child abuse for not affirming their son as a transgender “girl,” according to courtdocuments.

She has also sought restraining orders against Younger, she is trying to terminate his parental rights, and also seeks to compel Younger to pay for James’s visits with a transgender-affirming therapist and for medical procedures to “transition” James to a girl.

The controversial “treatment” could include hormonal sterilization that could begin in as soon as two years when James turns eight, in preparation for James to later have “sexual reassignment” surgery.

James’ mother has changed her son’s name to Luna. She dresses him in a girl’s clothing, shoes, and makeup, and James uses the girls’ restroom at school.

The court has awarded her the sole right to consent to psychiatric and psychological treatment of James and his twin brother Jude, rendering the boys’ father unable to get a second opinion. Younger is even prohibited from cutting his sons’ hair, having been reported by a teacher to Texas Child Protective Services for giving James a haircut.

Since the cost for psychological and psychiatric treatment of children is considered child support in Texas, a website on the case created by friends of the family says, and current Texas statutes being what they are, Younger could be “forced to pay for the sexual mutilation of his own son.”

When James’s mother Georgulas, who is a pediatrician, took James for counseling, she picked a gender transition therapist who diagnosed him with gender dysphoria. But Walt Heyer, a former transgender and advocate for those experiencing sex change regret, notes in an article for The Federalist that James does not fit the criteria for the condition.

Heyer’s piece has brought more attention to the case.

To be diagnosed with childhood gender dysphoria, a mental conflict between a person’s biological sex and their perceived gender, a child must be persistent, consistent, and insistent about being the opposite sex.

While James’s mother is “all in” on socially transitioning the boy, Heyer writes, providing only female clothes and enrolling him in school with a girl’s name, James exhibits no signs of gender dysphoria when with his father or others, choosing to dress and live as a boy.

“The fact that James changes gender identity depending on which parent is present makes the diagnosis of gender dysphoria both dubious and harmful,” Heyer said.

Furthermore, he writes, the transition therapist has observed as well that James is not consistent, insistent, or persistent in the desire to become “Luna.”

“The glaring disparity between a child’s preferred identity when in the presence of one parent versus the other should cause a therapist to reassess, perhaps nullify the diagnosis of gender dysphoria, and terminate any steps toward transition,” said Heyer. “But in the case of James, this hasn’t happened.”

Dr. Michelle Cretella, Executive Director of the American College of Pediatricians, concurred that James does not fit the profile for gender dysphoria.

“James clearly does not have gender dysphoria,” Cretella told LifeSiteNews.

“According to the pro-transgender pediatricians themselves, a child is allegedly ‘trans’ if he consistently and persistently insists he is a girl,” she said. “Well, when James is away from his mother, he consistently and persistently insists that he is a boy.”

Heyer learned of James’s case recently while in the area for a speaking engagement. In his article he chronicled specifics of this disparity in how James acts, with accounts from Younger, family friends, and a pastor who knows the family.

What James is consistent about when he’s not with his mother is that he rejects the idea that he is “Luna girl.”

“James exhibits no desire to be ‘Luna’ the girl except when he is with his mother,” Heyer said. “The boy’s behavior offers a stinging rebuke of the diagnosis of gender dysphoria.”

“This by all accounts is not a true or clinically correct diagnosis of gender dysphoria,” he continued. “Yet the therapist stands by her diagnosis and continues to keep ‘Luna’ on track to gender transition.”

“James[‘s] precious young life hinges purely on the diagnosis of gender dysphoria by a therapist who wraps herself in rainbow colors, affirms the diagnosis of gender dysphoria, and dismisses evidence to the contrary,” Heyer said. “Remove the ‘rainbow’ from James[’s] diagnosis, and it crumbles under the weight of the criteria for the diagnosis of gender dysphoria.”

“What is happening to poor James is a testament to how politicized and anti-science pediatrics has become regarding gender identity formation in children,” said Cretella, a pediatrician and expert who has written and spoken extensively about the issue.

Cretella offered a possible explanation for why mothers may push their sons to try to live as girls.

“Some mothers who force their sons to impersonate girls suffer from ‘gender mourning,’” she said.

“Drs. Kenneth Zucker and Susan Bradley, world renowned experts in the treatment of childhood gender identity disorders, described encountering some mothers who so desperately wanted a girl, that they entered a profound state of depression after bearing only sons,” explained Cretella. “The mothers’ depression was gradually alleviated only by one son acting in an effeminate manner or allowing her to dress him as a girl.”

The family friends behind the Save James website have kept a blog on the case, providing a timeline, court documents, prayers, research, and other resources on gender ideology. James’s mother is doing all she can to keep Younger from their boys, they say, and where she has a lot of support and financial backing, Younger is on his own with limited resources.

Heyer warned that an authentic diagnosis is vital for the sake of the child.

“The diagnosis is critical,” he said, “because labeling a child with gender dysphoria can trigger a series of physical and mental consequences for the child and has legal ramifications in the ongoing custody case. Get it wrong and young James’s life is irrevocably harmed.”

“It’s up to the adults to observe the child carefully,” said Heyer, “consider and question the grey areas, and ultimately guard innocent children against hasty diagnoses and conclusions about something so fundamental as their gender identity.”