My name is Elvira Syed. I came to America for a better life. Instead, I lost my daughter. My child died by suicide in October 2024, while away at college at Rider University in New Jersey. Her death was preventable.

My child, Ilene, was born a girl. When she was about 16 years old, my daughter announced that she was really a boy. I was terrified of losing my child. I used male pronouns and even agreed to a legal name change. I was told that this would prevent my depressed and anxious child from dying by suicide. That was a lie.

Over time, I came to understand that affirming my child's transgender identity was not helping and that real mental health treatment was needed to understand what was causing her distress over her sex.

While still 17 and in college, Ilene contacted an LGBTQ pastor. After just one meeting with my daughter, this individual filed an abuse claim against me with Connecticut's child welfare agency because refusing to enable drastic "gender-affirming" interventions with lifelong consequences was considered "abuse." The State took temporary custody of my child.

During the hearing, everyone, including the social worker, judge, and three lawyers, used male pronouns. Ilene's lawyer portrayed me as if I were the worst mother in the world. Just think: if all these authority figures treated a loving parent this way, what would a confused teenager think of her mother? The allegations were dropped, but the State and the pastor successfully ripped my child away from me. I was also not allowed on university premises.

The university-recommended "affirming" therapist at a pride center arranged for my child to see an endocrinologist, who immediately prescribed testosterone. At the second visit, the dose was increased. My daughter was approved for a mastectomy covered by Medicaid. She never made it to surgery.

According to the detective's report, a friend said my daughter's depression was getting worse and that she was struggling with her transition.

In October 2024, she took her life. Her body lay undiscovered for four days.

My family's story is not an outlier.

In California, the state removed Yaeli Martinez from her family's home because Yaeli's mother refused to raise her daughter as a boy. For years, Yaeli moved from foster placement to foster placement, sleeping on floors and couches. A judge consented to 16-year-old Yaeli's use of testosterone. Her mother was cleared of abuse only after Yaeli turned 18. Two months later, Yaeli died by suicide.

Parents of all races and religions, in conservative and liberal states alike, have been accused of abuse for merely raising their child as their sex. No parent should have their child taken away for raising that child as the sex they were born as.

Congress can stop this abomination. Rep. Mary Miller and Sen. Eric Schmitt introduced the Yaeli Martinez Child Protection Act (H.R. 10745 and S. 5593) to stop child welfare agencies from taking children away from loving parents who refuse to raise their children as something other than their sex.

Please sign this petition and tell Congress to pass the Yaeli Martinez Child Protection Act before another parent loses their child.

If you or someone you know is struggling, call or text 988, or text HOME to 741741.