Tonight, for President Donald Trump’s address to the joint session of Congress, his third wife Melania Trump has invited as her guest January Littlejohn, a transphobic Florida “parents’ rights” activist who reportedly lied about a middle school secretly transitioning her then-13-year-old child’s gender. Littlefoot will be joined by another anti-trans activist who said that she was injured while playing volleyball against a trans female competitor.

Littlejohn sued the Leon County School District of Tallahassee in 2021, after claiming that school officials met with her child and created a support plan for trans/nonbinary students — in accordance with district policy — essentially “forcing” her child to be “a trans boy” without first consulting her. Littlejohn claimed that school officials discussed restrooms and name change requests with their child without parental consent. However, public records contradict this version of events.

Related

Mother sued her school for being too supportive of trans kids. It didn’t work out for her.
She got upset when she found a chest binder in her child’s room. The judge, though, didn’t agree that the school was at fault.

Emails that have since been made public quite clearly show that Littlejohn, in fact, asked the school to use they/them pronouns for their non-binary child. Littlejohn had ongoing communications with the school and gave approval to let their child and their teachers lead on appropriate school protocols.

Insights for the LGBTQ+ community

Subscribe to our briefing for insights into how politics impacts the LGBTQ+ community and more.
Subscribe to our Newsletter today

“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 wrote in an email obtained by CNN. “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 that Littlejohn corresponded with then asked if she could share the email with other teachers.

In a later email, Littlejohn wrote, “Whatever you think is best or [redacted] can handle it herself,” adding in a seperate email, “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 emails contradicted assertions that the school forced the student to be a trans boy – the emails say they’re non-binary – or that the school did it “without telling” the child’s parents.

Nevertheless, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) cited Littlejohn’s story and praised her while signing the 2022 Parental Rights in Education Act (also known as the “Don’t Say Gay” law) by its critics.

A judge dismissed Littlejohn’s lawsuit against the school district in January 2023, saying that her lawsuit didn’t meet the standard for a federal lawsuit, The Tallahassee Democrat reported. However, Littlejohn’s lawyers filed an appeal that is currently pending.

Littlejohn has since started a career as an anti-transgender activist. She has been associated with Moms for Liberty, a so-called “parents’ rights group” that has been certified as an anti-LGBTQ+ hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center, as well as Do No Harm, a conservative nonprofit that has produced model legislation in at least three states to restrict gender-affirming care for trans youth.

A Trump Administration press release said Littlejohn is just one of 14 guests invited by the White House to personify the “disaster” of policies under former President Joe Biden’s administration.

The White House has also invited Payton McNabb, a former high school athlete who said she was injured during a volleyball match against a transgender player. McNabb said the injury gave her a concussion, brain bleeding, permanent whiplash, partial paralysis and vision problems.

McNabb has since become a paid spokesperson for an anti-transgender group that opposes gender-affirming healthcare and supports policies to forcibly out LGBTQ+ students to their potentially unsupportive parents, GLAAD reports.

Trump is likely to point out Littlejohn and McNabb during his address to help support his executive orders threatening persecution against any schools that support trans students and against schools that allow trans female athletes to compete in girls’ and women’s sports.

Subscribe to the LGBTQ Nation newsletter and be the first to know about the latest headlines shaping LGBTQ+ communities worldwide.