A couple things the anti-trans right won't tell you about its latest poster child

The rightwing media and Republicans like to rant about kids being brainwashed into gender reassignment without their parents' knowledge – and a new case in which that's being alleged is incredibly telling.

Joseph and Arlene Kutzko, of Southborough, Massachusetts, say that their child, who they refer to as their daughter, was taken from them by the state Department of Children and Families and has been provided with gender-affirming care, which horrifies them. The story they and their allies on the transphobic right are pushing is that DCF has trampled on their rights as parents, damaging their relationship with their minor child.

According to one local news report:

Joseph and Arlene Kutzko are devout Catholics, who said this violates not only their religious beliefs, but their constitutional rights.

"It's devastating, it's absolutely devastating," said Joseph Kutzko. He claimed that his daughter never expressed a desire to change her gender to him or Arlene.

Also:

Joseph Kutzko said the parent/child relationship between him and his daughter has been "deeply damaged" and that his family has suffered greatly.  

Here are the facts: The Kutzko's child was removed from their home after telling school personnel that Joseph Kutzko had punched them and pulled their hair and that they were afraid to go home. And, WBUR reports, Kutzko "threatened to kill the victim 'for not singing in tune during a birthday celebration,' according to court records." As for Arlene Kutzko, she was charged with witness intimidation for telling her child to recant the accusations against Joseph and "tell the school that she was exaggerating and being stupid."

I'm going to offer some completely wild speculation here. Maybe it was the physical violence and death threat that deeply damaged the Kutzkos' relationship with their child. Maybe their child had very good reason not to come out to their parents as trans. Certainly DCF had reason to remove the child from the home. As Gov. Maura Healey told reporters, "DCF removed the child after there were criminal charges filed against the parents."

Here's another fact that's glossed over in the coverage screaming about how the government of Massachusetts has stolen these people's child for the purposes of gender reassignment. The child in question was 15 when they reported their parents' abuse. That was in January 2025. We are currently talking about someone who will turn 18 and be a legal adult in seven months. If they haven't been in contact with their parents, it's not because the state is somehow preventing it. 

This is a teenager who can certainly access a phone and call if they want. Or, you know, leave school and instead of going to wherever DCF is having them cared for, go to their parents' house. If this kid wanted to do that, they could. They are making the choice not to contact their parents, and frankly, that seems like a good decision, given that their parents have gone to a Fox News podcast to wail about how unfair this all is and are turning it not just into anti-trans politics but into an ownership question, a case in which the parental rights that are being violated are very clearly framed as ownership rights.

None of this will stop the Kutzkos' new friends in rightwing media and at the "Child & Parental Rights Campaign," which is providing them with legal assistance. 

But it's possible that you will sometime be having a conversation with a fence-sitter, someone who doesn't think they're advocating for cruelty to trans kids but also thinks, you know, maybe things are taken a little far, and that person will bring up some version of this case – a version in which a vulnerable child has been stolen from their parents because of trans. And at that point I need you to be able to say "Wait, the case in Massachusetts? There were criminal charges against the parents. And by the time the parents went to the media, the kid was damn near 18 years old. This is just about abusive parents mad their kid got away from them."

So be ready.