For years, Georgulas has insisted that James identifies as a girl named Luna. Mr. Younger disagrees, and the two have spent much of James’ young life in court.
Brown, of the 301st Judicial District Court of Dallas County, awarded Georgulas exclusive control over James’ primary residence, counseling, medications, education, and extracurricular activities.
“Mr. Younger failed to timely make the payments of child support, medical support and interest as ordered and only paid his past due support after the motion for enforcement was filed,” the memorandum ruling reads.
“The prior orders that Ms. Georgulas must notify Mr. Younger of doctor’s, counseling, or mental health appointments, or extracurricular activities for the children are lifted. In an effort to ensure the emotional well-being and physical safety of the children, the court orders that all of Mr. Younger’s possession periods shall be continuously supervised by Forensic Counseling Services 972.360.7437 at Mr. Younger’s sole cost and expense.”
The order adds that Georgulas is allowed to withhold information from Mr. Younger “regarding the children’s extracurricular activities, school functions, school enrollment, counseling, and medical care.”
Brown’s order makes one caveat in Mr. Younger’s favor: Georgulas has the exclusive right to consent to James’ medical procedures except for hormone suppression therapy, puberty blockers, or transgender reassignment surgery.
It follows a virtual hearing held a month ago in which Georgulas argued that the child’s gender identity was merely tangential to the case.
“This is not about the child’s gender issues,” Georgulas’ attorney Jessica Janicek said.
“This is just a high-conflict custody case, and you’re going to hear a lot of issues with regards to Jeff’s parenting abilities.”
Mr. Younger, on the other hand, framed his son’s gender identity as central to the case and said the accusations against him stemmed from his unwillingness to treat James as a girl.
“To downplay that this is but for the gender issue is absolutely misleading and wrong. This is all about the gender issue in this case. And it’s about the parents’ ability to cope with and deal with this situation,” Mr. Younger’s attorney David Hanschen said.
Georgulas’ team claimed that further court intervention was necessary since Mr. Younger has refused to comply with a number of orders regarding the child’s upbringing, namely required counseling and educational decisions. She also claimed that the father’s child support payments have been repeatedly late.
“Dad stopped the counseling after two sessions in December 2020 because he did not like that he could not have the sessions on his possession time,” Janicek stated.
“Dad repeatedly gives interviews and admits he will not follow the counseling order — the most recent interview he gave on this was Wednesday, June 30, 2021.”
With regards to counseling, Mr. Younger’s team said he has no objection to the counselors but feels that “the system has been gamed.”
“When the child is brought to [the counselors], the child comes from the mother’s custody and is always dressed up as a little girl. Dad only has possession on Fridays, and neither of the two professionals have office hours on Fridays. And so he thinks, and I would agree with him, that it’s really quite unfair that the presentation of the child to the counseling system is only done under the auspices and control of one parent,” Hanschen explained.
With regards to child support payments, Mr. Younger simply claimed he made payments on time but the attorney general’s office was late in disbursing them.
Minor issues arising from disagreements between the parents about James’ gender also were at issue.
Mr. Younger and Georgulas have disagreed about James’ haircut length, a discussion that took considerable time in the hearing.
They have also disagreed about the child’s schooling. Georgulas takes James to Coppell ISD over the protests of Mr. Younger, who wants James to be home-schooled since he claims Coppell unduly encourages James’ feminine identity, “Luna.”
Georgulas also had been taking James to an extracurricular dance course for a period of time until public pressure incited by the “Save James” Facebook group forced James to quit the course.
While Mr. Younger objected to the dancing, he denied having control over the group.
As always, Mr. Younger claimed that James presents himself as a boy at his house, even when he keeps feminine clothing in James’ closet as an option.
James Younger’s ongoing story inspired a number of bills in the Texas legislature to prohibit procedures meant to change a child’s sex, all of which died without a vote on the House floor.
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