Tallahassee mom who sued Leon Schools invited to Trump’s joint session speech
January Littlejohn, the Tallahassee mother who sued the Leon County School Board for allegedly allowing her 13-year-old daughter to transition without her consent, will be a special guest of the first lady at the president’s speech to a joint session of Congress in Washington D.C.
According to a press release from the White House, Littlejohn and 14 other guests were invited by President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump to represent to what Trump calls the “disaster” faced under the Biden administration.
Littlejohn is a stay-at-home mom, a licensed mental health counselor and an active parents’ advocate. She is often associated with Moms for Liberty; the conservative organization that advocates for parental rights.
Her lawsuit against the Leon County School Board ignited a firestorm among Florida’s GOP lawmakers and with Gov. Ron DeSantis, who passed the Parental Rights in Education Act, dubbed “Don’t Say Gay” by its critics. The governor even commended Littlejohn for her bravery in speaking out during the bill signing.
“What happened to our family is one of the many reasons why this bill is necessary,” Littlejohn said at the press conference with the governor.
The suit alleged the district discussed restroom preferences and name changes without permission from the parents after they told a teacher they did not agree to those changes and wanted their daughter’s pronouns to remain those assigned at birth.
Previous coverage:Lawsuit against Leon Schools says district excluded parents from gender discussions
School officials spoke to the student in the fall of 2020 about bathroom preferences and pronouns after the student asked for the meeting. At the time, the district’s LGBTQ+ guide stated parents did not have to be told about a child’s gender or sexual identity. The guide has since been changed, which was one of the stipulations of the lawsuit against the district.
The White House press release maintains the school district “drove a wedge” between the family with their “covert plans,” something school administrators deny.
Despite the national attention the 2021 case received, a federal judge dismissed her case in January of 2023, citing that the suit’s claims didn’t meet the high standard that federal case law requires.
“I personally met with the parents before this lawsuit was filed, and before the passage of the Parental Bill of Rights, and felt as though we had reached an amicable resolution,” Superintendent Rocky Hanna said after the case was dismissed. “Unfortunately, this unnecessary lawsuit has now cost our school district — and ultimately taxpayers — thousands of dollars that otherwise would have gone to support the education of our children.”
The firm representing Littlejohn appealed the decision, which is currently pending.
Littlejohn is the only Floridian on the special guest list.
Other invitees include a 15-year-old from Texas who was bullied over social media, the widow of a New York police officer who was killed at a traffic stop, and the mother and sister of Laken Riley, a young female nursing student who was killed on a morning jog.
Alaijah Brown covers children & families for the Tallahassee Democrat. She can be reached atABrown1@gannett.com. Follow her on Twitter/X:@AlaijahBrown3.
Mom Who Saved Daughter From School’s Secret Gender Transition Will Attend Trump Address to Congress
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President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump have invited a number of guests to tonight’s Joint Address to Congress that reflect the issues the president has aggressively tackled since coming into office six weeks ago.
From immigration, and foreign policy, to protecting women and girls in sports, and combating gender ideology, the president has signed several executive orders aimed at issues that have affected everyday Americans.
And while all of the guests who will be sitting in the same section as the first lady have incredible stories, January Littlejohn’s tale is among the most shocking.
Littlejohn is from Tallahassee, FL, and is the mother and parents’ rights advocate who sued the School Board of Leon County after school officials at her daughter’s middle school socially transitioned her daughter to a different sexual identity without January and her husband’s knowledge or permission.
“The school drove a wedge between January’s daughter and her parents, and deceived January about their covert plan to transition her daughter,” reads a statement from the White House.
Littlejohn told the DailyWire that her harrowing experience began in 2020 after her 13-year-old daughter was “captured” by gender ideology.
“These social transitions, this is not a neutral or benign intervention,” Littlejohn told the outlet.
“This places these children on a path to medical transition. It’s the first step toward medical transition, and my daughter was completely convinced at that time that a medical pathway was the only way to alleviate her distress,” she continued.
Littlejohn told NC Family Policy Council that she was caught completely off-guard when her daughter came home and said, “I no longer feel like a girl.”
“My husband and I were very concerned about our daughter, and we elicited the help of a mental health professional and notified the school as to what was happening. Well, several weeks later, my daughter got into the car and said, ‘Mom, I had a meeting at school today, and they asked me which restroom I wanted to use,'” she shared.
Outraged and scared, Littlejohn and her husband confronted administrators about what took place.
“We eventually found out that the school had performed a psychosocial medical intervention in the form of a gender transition plan that they created behind closed doors with our 13-year-old daughter without our knowledge or consent,” she recalled.
“And this was done with three adults and our child, and so it went well beyond just asking her what name and pronouns she wanted to be called. They asked her which restroom and locker room she preferred to use, and which sex she preferred to room with on overnight field trips,” she added.
Littlejohn, a licensed mental health counselor, was stunned that she and her husband were kept in the dark about what happening with their daughter.
The parents questioned the administration about the legal justifications that would allow them to keep their daughter’s transition a secret and they learned officials were following information found in an “LGBT guide.”
“It explicitly stated in these guides that you are not to disclose any kind of LGBT identity to parents because it could cause abuse or make them homeless when there was no evidence to back this up,” she explained. “And frankly, that is illegal.”
RELATED ‘Parent-Free Zones’? US Court Rules School Had Right to Hide Child’s Gender Identity from Parents
The parents began to sound the alarm about what was taking place and it not only garnered national attention, but also prompted legislators in her home state to take action.
In 2022, Gov. Ron DeSantis signed The Parental Rights in Education bill, which stipulates that parents have a fundamental right to make decisions regarding the care and upbringing of their own children and must be included in the public school setting.
“Parents should never be cut out of critical decisions being made about their children. We are the ones ultimately responsible for their physical and mental health care,” she explained.
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After finding out the truth, “Littlejohn and her husband were able to help their daughter embrace her God-given identity. They removed her from the school, limited her internet usage, and focused on helping her build a happy life,” the DailyWire reports.
Now, Littlejohn counsels other parents who may find themselves in a similar situation.
“Parents have got to understand that gender identity ideology has infected every aspect of our culture, including our judicial system,” Littlejohn told the outlet. “It’s really going to take time to root out gender ideology out of these institutions. In the meantime, parents have got to protect their children by knowing what’s being taught in their schools.”
Littlejohn says she feels the “weight of all the families” she will be representing on Tuesday night.
“I am incredibly grateful to @realdonaldtrump & @melaniatrump for this opportunity to share our story & protect other families from the gross parental rights violations that are occurring in schools across our country,” she wrote on Instagram.
“No child is born in the wrong body & schools must stop these secret social transitions that are creating a huge wedge between the parent/child relationship & ultimately harming the child. Thank you, President Trump, for working to restore truth, reality, and a family-first agenda in our great nation! Gob bless you both,” she concluded.
MUST SEE ‘Art Club’: Family Shares ‘Horror Story’ After School Staff Tries to Turn Daughter to Be Transgender
*** Montana Couple Files Civil Rights Lawsuit After State Took Daughter Away Over Gender Transition
*** England’s National Health Service Rejects Puberty Blockers, Says Little Evidence to Show It’s Safe for Kids
MORE ‘My Son Was Gone’: Christian Parents Find Support Amid Sudden Surge in Gender Confusion
*** Nearly 2,000 Minnesota Students, 15 Teachers Walk Out of LGBTQ ‘Indoctrination’ Lesson
*** ‘Teachers Are Being Bullied’: Woman Fired for Not Transitioning 8-Year-Old with Gender Confusion
*** ‘Barbaric Pseudo-Science’: Detransitioner, Doctor Report 100% Failure of Trans Surgeries on Kids
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Melania Trump to sit with Tallahassee’s January Littlejohn during Donald Trump speech to Congress
A Tallahassee mother who became prominent during gender identity fights earlier this decade will watch President Donald Trump’s speech Tuesday night with First Lady Melania Trump.
Parental rights advocate January Littlejohn will be one of several guests invited by Melania Trump, according to the White House Communications Office (WHCO).
The WHCO describes Littlejohn as “a mother and parents’ rights advocate who sued the School Board of Leon County after school officials at her daughter’s middle school socially transitioned her daughter to a different sexual identity without January and her husband’s knowledge or permission.”
“The school drove a wedge between January’s daughter and her parents, and deceived January about their covert plan to transition her daughter,” the bio continues.
Her family’s experience and her testimony was key in helping Gov. Ron DeSantis make the case for “Parental Rights in Education” legislation. That law guarantees that parents are looped in about health discussions and potential decisions involving their child.
“When parents are excluded from critical decisions affecting their child’s health and well being at school, it sends the message to children that their parent’s input and authority are no longer important,” Littlejohn said when the law was passed.
The chair of the Florida Republican Party also hailed the selection.
“Everyday Americans are a priority for both President and First Lady Melania Trump which is why the policies enacted upon in just four weeks are receiving extraordinary support from the American people who were pushed aside and maligned by the Biden/Harris administration,” said Evan Power. “January Littlejohn is a fighter and her success in freeing her family from the dangerous woke ideology imposed upon her family is a shining example of a Floridian who will stand up against tyranny.”
She is the only Floridian among a group of Melania Trump’s guests, who all have their stories to tell.
Other invitees include Elliston Berry, a teenage victim of deepfakes at school; the surviving family of Corey Comperatore, who was shot at then-candidate Trump’s rally in Pennsylvania last year; steelworker Jeff Denard; Stephanie Diller, whose husband was a New York cop murdered at a traffic stop; former foster child Haley Ferguson; and former Russian prisoner Marc Fogle.
The list also includes former high school volleyball player Payton McNabb, who was critically injured by a trans athlete in a game; Allyson and Lauren Phillips, the mother and sister of Laken Riley; and Alexis Nungaray, the angel mom of Jocelyn Nungaray.
A.G. Gancarski has been the Northeast Florida correspondent for Florida Politics since 2014. His work also can be seen in the Washington Post, the New York Post, the Washington Times, and National Review, among other publications. He can be reached at AG@FloridaPolitics.com or on Twitter: @AGGancarski
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