This topic would be more amusing to cover if it weren’t another example of trans kids having their lives ruined by trans-antagonistic parents.

In an ongoing parental custody dispute two Albertan judges have ordered that the child may not wear “feminine” clothes in public.

No, literally, I’m not making this up. Judges have decided to micromanage what clothes this child can or cannot wear.

What’s happening is the child, assigned male at birth, is questioning their gender. Their mother is supportive, indifferent to how her child chooses to express themselves as long as they are happy. Their father then told the courts that his child’s “gender confusion” was caused by the mother, and his tactic worked. The latest ruling gave primary custody to the father, who I assume is now forcing his child into a male gender role.

Smith and the child’s father are separated and share custody.

Smith says she told the father what had happened and about her decision to support their child. Weeks later he served her with papers seeking primary custody, blaming Smith for the child’s gender confusion and anxiety.

When the two went to family court in Medicine Hat in December, 2015, Judge D.G. Redman kept Smith as primary caregiver, but in his interim order, said the child will not be permitted to wear clearly female clothes in public, but if he chooses, he could do so in private.

Then earlier this year in February, the case went before Judge F.C. Fisher and in his interim order, he again stated the clothing restriction and granted primary custody to the father. Smith was given limited access.

By this past September, the interim clothing order was revised by a third provincial court judge. Judge G.K Krinke said after consulting with a parenting expert, the parents must provide both boy and girl clothing options and the child can then choose from those options.

Thankfully the third judge in this case has the sense to get the father to fuck off and let the kid decide for themselves. Hopefully the kid feels safe enough to persist in doing what they want concerning their gender expression, even if the father doesn’t like it. But that still leaves a nine month period where two judges felt perfectly justified to restrict what clothes a kid could legally wear, and more importantly it seems extremely unlikely the father will allow their child to seek our gender affirmative care in the event they do understand themselves to be transgender.

It cannot be understated how much I loathe it when parents weaponize their kid’s gender variance in custody battles. Dog above the mom better win. Thanks to Bill 7, she can submit a human rights complaint, and has.

-Shiv