Tell your MP and Senators to ban mutilating surgery for gender-confused children

(LifeSiteNews) — Ted Hudacko, a California father who lost custody of his son over concerns about his desire to “transition,” and his lawyer Tracy Henderson join Jonathon on this week’s episode of The Van Maren Show to discuss Hudacko’s ordeal.

Hudacko begins by explaining that he and his wife had been married for nearly 20 years, with two boys, one 13 and the other 15. Shortly after his older son turned 15, Hudacko’s wife informed him that the boy was “trans” and left him, taking both sons with her. While the younger son returned a few days later, the older son did not. Because of COVID, Hudacko notes, the divorce trial did not take place until June 2020 and by the “luck of the draw” was overseen by Judge Joni Hiramoto, a supporter of “gender transitions” whose own son had “transitioned” just before the case reached her desk.

Hudacko was aware of “transitioning” before his divorce, seeing magazines discussing “transitions” among the children of celebrities or pictures of Bruce Jenner on the cover after he changed his legal name to “Caitlyn.” He also notes that he had spoken to his wife about Jeff Younger’s custody battle in Texas – a battle similar to his own. In response to his disbelief at the case, Hudacko recalls his wife not saying a word. He further recalls that he and his wife seemed to diverge on cultural issues in the years leading up to their separation.

When asked if there were any indication that his son wanted to identify as “trans,” Hudacko responds negatively, though says that both of his sons were privy to conversations involving an attempted murder their uncle made of their aunt, with the uncle undergoing sentencing a month before their mother left their father. Hudacko recounts being told by more than one person of the possibility his son, associating his uncle’s behavior with men, would want to “opt out” of becoming a man. After the separation, Hudacko received a short note from his son that in his opinion resembles a “template letter” where the words were not all his son’s.

Following the separation, Hudacko allowed his son to see a therapist, though he admits he did not vet him. The therapist, Hudacko later discovered, would refer people to the gender clinic at the University of California San Francisco (UCSF), which under Dr. Stephen Rosenthal was conducting a federally-funded study on puberty blockers. Hudacko discovered this about the gender clinic on his own, and also that the clinic would prescribe all patients with puberty blockers. He spent more than an hour on the phone with psychologist Ben Morsa, who got “agitated” when Hudacko asked him a series of questions regarding the treatment plan the clinic used.

Turning his attention to the custody hearings beginning in June 2020, Hudacko recalls that Judge Hiramoto asked Hudacko if he would support his son if he identified as the Queen of England, and she “seemingly” became “enraged” when he said it would be an “illogical impossibility.” Explaining his interaction with Hiramoto, Hudacko says that the judge had a “minor’s counsel in mind who had ‘special training’ in the area.” The counsel turned out to be Daniel Harkins, a man who had been previously called to act on as minor’s counsel by the court under a different judge.

“We were ordered to pay him, I think it was around $400 an hour,” Hudacko tells Jonathon. “The majority of that was assessed to me, so that one thing that that actually meant is anytime I did anything in court, I was carrying the load of this guy, this court appointed attorney, ostensibly for both my sons, but in reality he was just a lick spittle of Judge Hiramoto and … another legal opponent.”

Harkins was ordered to write a report, Hudacko continues, and had to interview all family members. Hudacko also notes that Harkins spoke about twice with Diane Ehrensaft, a psychologist from UCSF’s gender clinic who believes that 18-month-olds can know their gender. When Harkins issued the report, it “excoriate[ed]” Hudacko’s parenting of his elder son, and he delivered it two days before a final hearing in August 2020. Hudacko was able to read it and wrote a rebuttal, answering Harkins’ report at “every point.” He also included reference to a Brazilian report referred to by Rosenthal and others at UCSF discussing the impact on brain development by puberty blockers.

Hudacko says Harkins responded to mention of the Brazilian report with name-calling, and says it is “likely” the “special training” Harkins had was a “continuing legal education class on transgender and custody issues.”

Hudacko lost custody of his elder son because of the hearings, and he subsequently dismissed his first attorney. That same day, the minor’s counsel filed an adverse emergency motion against him, giving him 24 hours to respond. While he did, he also filed a counter=motion. In November 2020, Hudacko attempted to introduce more evidence to the court, though Hiramoto would not heed it. A month later, he attempted to call a physician and a psychologist as expert witnesses, though Hiramoto blocked the attempt. Hiramoto, he adds, “[cleansed] the record” of the court transcript for the December hearing, deleting the first 30 minutes which contained argumentation related to Hudacko’s expert witnesses, among other things.

Meanwhile, a result of the August 2020 hearing was that Hudacko’s son could not undergo gender surgery without the approval of both parents or a court order. In October 2021, Hudacko noticed a large envelope in the mail from his healthcare provider, in which he found a bill for over $200,000. After contacting his ex-wife, Hudacko found that his son was given a supprelin implant, a device implanted under the skin that delivers puberty blockers. The provider, UnitedHealthcare, along with his employer, had a policy whereby gender surgeries could not be performed on minors.

When another bill of over $700 arrived in the mail, Hudacko knew that a surgery had been performed in violation of the court order and attempted to file a motion requiring the implant be removed.

The minor’s counsel and the mother filed a contrary motion, with the minor’s counsel persuading the judge there was no “expedient emergency” and the issue did not need an expedited hearing. The judge set a hearing for May 2022, three weeks before Hudacko’s son would turn 18 and “age out of the system.” The judge told Hudacko off the record that even had the expedition motion been accepted, he likely would have ruled against him and that he would not order the device removed regardless.

Looking at his case, Hudacko says it was an “ordeal” and that it has negatively impacted his health and professional life, noting that his company’s internal newsletter has featured stories of employees or their children being “brave” for “transitioning.”

Human resources would not accept arguments from publications against transitions when Hudacko attempted to share them. He also went to a company community chat for “trans kids parenting,” asking if anyone had any experience with supprelin, adding that he saw it was used to chemically castrate criminal sex offenders. As a result, he suffered attacks in the chat from people he believes to be “trans” and potentially without children. He no longer works at the company.

“It’s been a rather surreal experience,” Hudacko says. “It’s been an interesting exercise in developing resilience, and I hope everybody in this should just take things one day at a time and live to fight another day. To look at it that way. Find something to rely on.”

Hudacko also wishes he could have had a conversation with his son about the matter, telling Jonathon that if his son would have proven that he thought the matter through, he would have supported him. However, he admits that this would have been unlikely. Hudacko notes that everyone involved in the matter – the therapist, the court, the UCSF gender clinic, and school counselors – did not allow such a conversation to happen.

Towards the end of the show, Tracy Henderson explains that the group Hudacko has had to face is pushing an ideology that is harmful to children. She further notes that cases like Hudacko’s are “brand new” and have national implications. She also warns that all major institutions are being “taken over” by gender ideology, noting that she is asked what her pronouns are when she goes to renew her bar license.

Those interested in giving to Hudacko’s GiveSendGo can do so here.

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Tell your MP and Senators to ban mutilating surgery for gender-confused children