A Texas judge overturned a jury’s decision to award full custody of a 7-year-old boy to his mother who claimed he was a transgender girl.
Jeff Younger, of Dallas, asked a court to grant him full custody of his son James after his ex-wife, pediatrician Anne Georgulas, claimed the boy wanted to be a girl because he played with a girl’s toy in a McDonald’s Happy Meal.
The jury awarded full custody to Georgulas earlier this week. Younger was granted supervised visits with his son under the condition that he treat James like a girl and only allow people around the boy who agreed with his transition.
But the judge who presided over the case overturned the jury’s decision on Thursday. Judge Kim Cooks ruled that the parents would share custody of James and make joint decisions about his health care.
Dr. Georgulas and Mr. Younger will also jointly agree on haircuts for James and his twin brother Jude. Both Georgulas and Younger were ordered to attend counseling.
The jury’s decision sparked outrage around the world when they agreed with Dr. Georgulas that James should be allowed to transition to a girl and wear dresses.
James and his twin brother Jude were conceived via in vitro fertilization (IVF) using donated eggs. Dr. Georgulas is not their biological mother. She claimed she noticed James playing with girl’s toys in a McDonald’s at age 3.
Georgulas enrolled James in kindergarten under the name Luna, and she instructed staff to refer to James as a girl and to use feminine pronouns.
Younger, who divorced Georgulas, told the court that she told James that “monsters only eat boys.”
Younger said James behaves like a normal boy when he and his brother stay at his home.
A GoFundMe page titled ‘Save James’ raised over $40,000 in donations to help with Younger’s court costs.
