How the Church (and the State) Failed Abigail Martinez

Recently, at The Celebration of America’s Promise to Parents event, hosted by the Alliance Defending Freedom, Abigail Martinez, a grieving mother, shared a story that every single parent, pastor, and lawmaker in America needs to hear.   Abigail’s daughter Yaeli began to struggle with depression when she was in the 8th grade. Without communication with her mother, Yaeli was quickly funneled by personnel at her school towards the LGBTQ group, and then to an outside psychologist. [The Blaze]

Soon, Yaeli was being led by these adults towards a "social transition," going by the name “Andrew” and increasingly presenting as a boy. All the while, she was urged to keep the details hidden from her family.   

Once Abigail caught wind of this, she protested both the secrecy and the strategy of this counseling, urging the counselors to instead look into underlying issues of Yaeli’s mental health. Instead, she was told that by refusing to call her daughter by her new name and pronouns, she was the problem. If anything happened to Yaeli, the school said, it would be Abigail’s fault. 

From that moment on, the system boxed her out at every turn. When Yaeli was 16, the school psychologist urged the Los Angeles Department of Children and Family Services to intervene, arguing that because her mom was "unsupportive" of her social transition, Yaeli would be better off living elsewhere.

Yaeli was moved to a group home, where she started taking cross-sex hormones. Abigail was only allowed to see her daughter for one hour each week, supervised, and strictly warned not to bring up anything relating to her daughter’s transition, including their Christian faith. If she did, her visitation rights would be revoked. 

"If we keep [Yaeli] out of your home,” Abigail remembered being told, "she [will] have more chance to survive. She’s not going to try to commit suicide."

Instead, all the while, Yaeli’s mental health continued to decline. The testosterone caused her constant pain, for which a doctor prescribed CBD oil. 

“She was taking the [cross-sex] hormones; she was not happy," her mother said. "She changed her name, [but] was not happy, she adopted a dog because that was going to make her happy. None of it, everything that they’ve done, didn’t work."

At age 19, Yaeli moved out of the group home and pursued her new identity for about three years.  Then Yaeli took her own life.

[Breakpoint]