Gender-affirming care is such a hot button topic nowadays. No matter what state you live in, though, it should go without saying that if you’re a parent, you should always want your child to be safe, healthy, and living life as their authentic self. But sometimes, things can go too far. A couple from Utah is facing kidnapping charges for taking one of their children to Cuba when they were supposed to be vacationing elsewhere. One of the 10-year-old’s parents is transgender and is being accused by other family members of taking the child to Cuba with the intention of having a gender reassignment surgery performed on the child.
The couple has been charged with parental kidnapping after taking their 10-year-old to Cuba.
According to NBC 6, a Utah couple is accused of kidnapping a 10-year-old child and taking the child to Cuba for what a family member believed was an effort to have the child undergo gender reassignment surgery.
The US Department of Justice released a news statement, sharing that two people from Utah are in federal custody and charged in a federal criminal complaint of international parental kidnapping.
The child’s parents are Rose Inessa-Ethington, who is a transgender woman and technically the child’s biological father, and her partner, Blue Inessa-Ethington, who were both arrested by the FBI, NBC 6 reported. Rose Inessa-Ethington, 42, shares custody with the child’s biological mother, who is referred to as “LB” in federal court filings.
It’s the couple’s odd travel itinerary that tipped everyone off.
According to NBC 6, Rose and Blue Inessa-Ethington were supposed to take the child to Canada, along with Blue Inessa-Ethington’s 3-year-old, for a planned camping trip, but they never ended up checking into their hotel or the campground where they were supposed to be staying in Calgary, Alberta.
The child was expected to arrive home to their biological mother by April 3, but the group who was traveling had not been heard from since March 28, per the news outlet.
This is where things get tricky to figure out. Instead of returning home, the couple allegedly flew from Vancouver to Mexico City and boarded a flight to Havana, according to the criminal complaint obtained by NBC 6.
Family members were reportedly concerned the reason for the secret trip was to get the child gender reassignment surgery.
According to ABC 4, during the course of the investigation, relatives of the 10-year-old child “raised concerns that the child had been manipulated by Rose Inessa-Ethington into identifying as a different gender than the one they were assigned at birth.” Ultimately, they believed the child was being taken to Cuba for gender reassignment surgery.
Court documents showed that investigators found evidence from a therapist on gender affirming medical care for children but no physical evidence showing that the reason they went to Cuba was for medical treatment of any kind, per ABC 4. Such treatment is not legal in Cuba.
The child has been ordered by Utah State Court to be returned to the biological mother immediately and that the mother be granted exclusive custody, NBC 6 reported.
There were reportedly custody disputes involving the child that date back to 2021, ABC 4 reported. The FBI Salt Lake City Field Office is investigating the case.
We just hope that the youth at the center of all of this is being given the love, support, and care the child deserves.
