Social contagion: California couple sues LA schools for trans secrecy policy after teens suicide

A Los Angeles high school’s “secrecy policy” kept a California couple in the dark about their only child’s gender identity, helped “sever” the family’s relationship — and ultimately drove the teen to suicide, his parents alleged.Dylan Parke was already struggling to fit in as a sophomore at Palisades Charter High School in Los Angeles in 2019-2020 when he told school staffers he would use she/her pronouns and go by the name “Aria,” as he transitioned into a woman.Parke had been diagnosed with depression, was in mental health treatment and “appeared easily influenced and preoccupied with how others perceived him,” parents Kathleen Mulligan and Andrew Parke said in a California federal court lawsuit against the Los Angeles Unified School District, embattled superintendent Alberto Caravlho and others.But despite their proactive involvement in Dylan’s life, staffers kept his trans declaration a secret — driving a wedge between the child and his desperate parents, they said in court papers.They even ignored Mulligan in August 2020 when she emailed to voice her concerns, acknowledging her son was “transitioning socially.”Mulligan assured the employee she was “not transphobic” but noted her concerns that Dylan — whom his parents described as a “bright and sensitive teenager who was deeply loved” — may have been on the autism spectrum, was “easily influenced,” and reeling from being left off the baseball team.The worried mom voiced “her belief that Dylan was particularly vulnerable to social contagion related to gender identity, as his ‘trans identity’ appeared to provide him with a sense of belonging and validation from peers who were being celebrated for similar disclosures,” she said in the lawsuit.“If I thought Dylan was really trans I would have a different mindset but I know my son better than anyone and I know he is struggling and I want what is best for him.He has so much potential and I worry about his ment...