In November 2016 Annmarie Calgaro began legal proceedings to sue her daughter for transitioning from male to female. Along with her daughter Calgaro took legal action against two non-profit healthcare providers, the St Louis School Board, the principal at her daughter's school, Saint Louis County, and the director of the county's Health and Human services agency, This week a judge called the case 'meritless' and dismissed the lawsuit.
Calgaro began the lawsuit after learning that her daughter was transgender and was undergoing treatment to transition. She learnt that members of her daughters school staff and other organisations had helped her daughter to begin this process, something that she claimed violated her rights as a parent.
Whilst Calgaro's daughter is considered a minor, she had been officially emancipated with help from a local aid group. Calgaro's daughter had moved away from her family home and was living alone, which the school argued allowed the teenager to make her own medical decisions.
The judge in the case, Paul Magnuson, concluded that teenager was not in fact emancipated as it 'did not act under color of state law' as Minnesota law does not allow a minor to become emancipated for their parents unless a state court makes the decision, which did not happen. Despite this, Calgaro's case was dismissed on Tuesday.
Calgaro's lawyer, Erick Kaardal of the Thomas More Society, has stated that she may consider appealing the decision.
'It was brought to my knowledge that my son began receiving hormone replacement treatment from Park Nicollet Health Services to transition from male to female, with medical assistance paying for this. I was not consulted or informed in any way,' Calgaro told journalists, claiming that her daughter's actions had violated her rights under the 14th Amendment.
The Thomas More Society is an anti-abortion law firm who are currently also in a legal case where they are representing a Texan activist who has attempted to frame Planned Parenthood for buying and selling organs.
Calgaro's daughter, who turns 18 in a few months time, has stated that those who helped her did not pressure her into transitioning or to exclude her mother from the process, but that both decisions were her own.
'My providers had no involvement in my decision not to involve my mother in my healthcare decisions,' she said in court documents. 'I was not pressured in any way by my providers to consent to this treatment.'
It is currently unknown if Annmarie Calgaro intends to appeal the ruling.
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