Dallas County judge removed from 7-year-old transgender child custody case after Facebook post

AUSTIN — The judge in a Dallas child custody case has been removed, according to court documents, after posting about the case on Facebook.

Last week, Dallas County Judge Tena Callahan granted the recusal request from the child’s mother, Anne Georgulas, who says her 7-year-old is transgender.

Georgulas filed a motion seeking the recusal of Judge Kim Cooks after Cooks shared a Dallas Morning News story about the case on her official Facebook page in October.

Another user originally posted the story with the caption, “Here’s the truth! READ IT and THEN GO RUN TELL THAT!” In her post, Cooks said, “The Governor nor any legislature had any influence on the Court’s Decision.”

The post no longer appears on Cooks’ Facebook. She could not immediately be reached for comment.

Georgulas’ attorneys argued that Cooks should recuse herself because the post called into question her impartiality.

“Given the presiding judge’s comments about the case on her social media accounts, we believe recusal was the appropriate response and are pleased with Judge Callahan’s order, which will mean a new judge now will make any remaining decisions in the case,” Georgulas’ attorney Chad Baruch said in an email.

Her attorneys also filed a motion in November to conform to a jury’s verdict recommending Georgulas have sole custody of the 7-year-old and the child’s twin.

Georgulas, a Coppell pediatrician, had sought to modify a joint custody agreement with her ex-husband if he did not affirm the child’s social transition by allowing the child to dress and be referred to as a girl.

The father, Jeffrey Younger, disagrees and has blogged that the child would be “chemically castrated” by his ex-wife. Georgulas has said she is seeking only a social transition and has no plans to place their child on medication or hormones at the age of 7.

In response to a petition from Younger for sole custody of the children, the jury said the children should be placed under sole custody, but not under Younger.

Cooks instead upheld the joint custody, placed a gag order on both parents and ordered therapy for the family because of the publicity about the case.

She noted that Georgulas had not sought sole custody of the children and said that both parents will need to make decisions about the 7-year-old’s gender transition.

But Georgulas’ attorneys contend in the motion that the jury essentially granted her sole custody by denying it to Younger.

An administrative judge will appoint a new judge who will rule on the motion to conform to the jury’s verdict, Baruch said.

The case spurred a national debate on children’s gender transition and became a rallying cry for Texas lawmakers, who promised to intervene.

Gov. Greg Abbott tweeted that the state attorney general’s office and Department of Family and Protective Services were looking into the case. Several conservative lawmakers have pledged to outlaw allowing Texas minors to undergo gender transition by medical means.