SAN DIEGO, CALIFORNIA: Jessica Konen, a California mother, has achieved a significant legal victory against her daughter's middle school district for secretly 'transitioning' her child to affirm to a trans male social identity.
The landmark case pitted parental rights over schools providing LGBTQ+ youth access to gender affirming services, even without parental consent or knowledge.
The district settled the lawsuit for $100,000 following allegations that Konen's 11-year-old daughter, Alicia, was "socially transitioned" into a trans boy by Buena Vista Middle School in Spreckels, per Fox News.
The school purportedly told Alicia that she was experiencing distress due to a lack of self-identification. This led to Alicia using male pronouns and the boys' restroom — all without her mother's consent or the school informing Jessica Konen about these developments.
Jessica Konen sues school district for 'manipulating' daughter to change gender
In 2021, Jessica Konen raised concerns that her child was encouraged to consider herself a trans boy while attending the school in 2019, accusing teachers of influencing her daughter's perception of her gender identity.
Konen filed a legal claim against the school and two seventh-grade teachers. Meanwhile, the child returned to identifying as female amid the Covid-19 pandemic and remote learning.
In her court papers, Konen says her daughter found distance learning difficult "but there was a silver lining - because A.G. (her daughter) was at home throughout the school day, she was no longer in the clutches of Ms Caldiera (sic) and Ms Baraki. Freed from their influence A.G. began to return to her old self."
The child is now attending high school in another district and has resumed identifying as a girl.
The settlement by the Spreckels Union School District serves as a significant milestone in the broader US discourse regarding the alignment of parental rights and children's choices within school environments.
"They need to understand their place, and they need to stay in their place. And schools nowadays, they're awful," Konen told Fox News. "So, I'm going to fight this fight and keep fighting this fight."
"I am not going to allow this to keep happening to children," Konen continued. "I feel that the fight, it has to continue."
Jessica Konen and her daughter now share a strong relationship
Talking about her relationship with her daughter now, Konen said they're doing well and are making an effort to communicate more openly.
"I think it took a lot of guts for both of us to be able to open up publicly and explain what is happening. Parents, be vigilant, you know, pay attention. Those gut feelings you have, they're real. I feel like this just opened doors," said Konen, tapping into the experiences she had with her daughter.
"We definitely are going to be at peace and be able to try to move on from this. But parents, pay attention, ask the questions that are offered," she added.
"Put yourself in uncomfortable situations because you don't know what someone's going through. You don't know what they're teaching in schools anymore. Just be active in your kid's lives and don't be scared to speak up," Konen told parents like herself.
