Did a Florida school encourage January Littlejohn's child to secretly socially transition and use they/them pronouns without telling her? No, that's not true: January Littlejohn approached her child's school first about the decision by her child to use they/them pronouns, according to emails obtained by news outlets. Details of the emails that Littlejohn sent telling the school her child wanted to use different pronouns at school and she was going to let the child "take the lead" on sharing her new pronouns were reported on in published news reports.
The claim appeared in a post and video (archived here) where it was published on X on March 4, 2025. It included a video of President Donald Trump speaking during his Joint Address to Congress on March 4, 2025, and had the caption:
Our kids deserve to be protected from radical agendas. January Littlejohn's daughter was secretly socially transitioned by her school, without her parents' consent.
I stand with @POTUS in ensuring that this never happens again.
This is what the post looked like on X at the time of writing:
(Source: X screenshot taken on Wed Mar 5 18:40:19 2025 UTC)
January Littlejohn was a guest at Trump's address to Joint Session of Congress on March 2, 2025, where it was claimed her child was secretly "socially transitioned." The video included in the tweet above shows Trump introducing her:
My administration is also working to protect our children from toxic ideology in our schools. A few years ago, January Littlejohn and her husband discovered that their daughter's school had secretly socially transitioned their 13-year-old little girl. Teachers and administrators conspired to deceive January and her husband while encouraging their daughter to use a new name and pronouns, they/them pronouns actually. All without telling January, who is here tonight and is now a courageous advocate against this form of child abuse. January, thank you.
Littlejohn and her husband filed a lawsuit (archived here) against the Leon County school district in Florida in 2021, with Littlejohn claiming her daughter's school changed the daughter's pronouns without telling Littlejohn. The lawsuit claims after Littlejohn notified the school about her child's gender situation they stopped informing her about her child's situation in the school. The lawsuit claimed:
Defendants have violated Plaintiffs' fundamental rights by, inter alia, implementing a protocol which explicitly circumvents parental notification and involvement in critical decisions affecting their children's mental, emotional and physical health, i.e., the children's assertion of a discordant gender identity and accommodations to facilitate asserting the discordant gender identity at school.
However, emails from the lawsuit that have been published by news outlets show Littlejohn first raised the issue with the school of her child's desire to change their name and pronouns to they/them. She called it her child's "gender situation" and said she and the child's father were trying to be as supportive as they could. There was a clear mutual consultation between Littlejohn and at least one teacher, and the mother expressed gratitude for that consultation and guidance.
The Tallahassee Democrat published an article (archived here) in 2021 titled, "Lawsuit against Leon Schools says district excluded parents from gender discussions," that reported on the emails from the mother, January Littlejohn. From the Tallahassee Democrat article:
The complaint also says that the parents became upset when they found out the school discussed restroom preferences and name changes without their consent.
Emails obtained by The Democrat in a public records request, however, reveal the mother worked with a teacher to determine how best to navigate the situation.
After the August email from the mother informing the math teacher of her child's gender identity and name preference, the math teacher responded:
"...Would you like me to share this with (redacted) other teachers? Or are you telling them? Thanks again."
The mother replied:
"I honestly hadn't gotten that far ... Whatever you think is best or [redacted] can handle it (pronoun redacted)."
CNN published an article (archived here) in April 2022 about the Littlejohn situation, noting they obtained the mails in the case that Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis was using to explain the legislation that critics called the "Don't Say Gay" bill, which banned schools from teaching about sexual orientation or gender identity, particularly to young children. The article cited DeSantis' version of the story:
"We had a mother from Leon County, and her daughter was going to school and some people in the school had decided that the daughter was really a boy and not a girl. So they changed the girl's name to a boy's name, had her dress like a boy and on doing all this stuff, without telling the mother or getting consent from the mother. First of all, they shouldn't be doing that at all. But to do these things behind the parents' back and to say that the parents should be shut out. That is wrong," DeSantis said during a news conference in Jasper, Florida, on Tuesday.
CNN also detailed the conversation Littlejohn had with her child's teacher via email:
CNN obtained emails that show Littlejohn wrote the school in 2020 and notified a teacher that her child wanted to change pronouns. Contrary to the governor's portrayal of the story, Littlejohn also wrote that she would not stop her child from using preferred pronouns or name of choice at school. Littlejohn references these emails in her lawsuit against the school and they were reported by the Tallahassee Democrat in November.
In an August 27, 2020, email to a teacher, Littlejohn stated, in part, "This has been an incredibly difficult situation for our family and her father and I are trying to be as supportive as we can. She is currently identifying as non-binary. She would like to go by the new name [redacted] and prefers the pronouns they/them. We have not changed her name at home yet, but I told her if she wants to go by the name [redacted] with her teachers, I won't stop her."
The teacher thanked Littlejohn and asked if she should share with other teachers. Littlejohn explained it was difficult and confusing, and went on to write, "Whatever you think is best or [redacted] can handle it herself."
In another email the same day, Littlejohn told the teacher, "This gender situation has thrown us for a loop. I sincerely appreciate your support. I'm going to let her take the lead on this."
The lawsuit filed by Littlejohn was dismissed in December 2022 and according to court records an appeal was filed in 2023.
