Christian parents of girl, 14, who wants to change gender forced to take legal action against their local council after it backs her efforts against their wishes 

• e-mail

The parents of a 14-year-old girl are taking legal action to challenge their local authority's backing for their daughter to transition into a boy. 

The girl, who cannot be named for legal reasons, is believed to want to change her gender and has received the support of her local authority. 

However, the girl's parents object to the process, and believe their daughter is too young to take such a dramatic decision. 

Social workers are backing the 14-year-old girl's attempts to transition to a boy, file photo

Andrea Williams of the Christian Legal Centre said the parent's rights are being ignored by the local authority and social workers in favour of the 'transgender cultural movement'

The parents will meet with teachers and social workers next month to decide whether the girl should be known in school by a boy's name rather than the one she was given as a baby. 

According to the Sunday Times, the parents' solicitor, Michael Phillips of Andrew Storch solicitors said if the family failed to follow the guidance of social workers, the girl could be taken into care. 

This follows the case of a young boy who has been taken from his mother's care because she tried to raise him 'entirely as a girl'. 

The seven-year-old boy was even registered at his GP's surgery as a girl and was referred to in official documentation as a girl. 

However, the boy's father and some officials expressed concern as the youngster did not view himself as a girl. 

Mr Justice Hayden in the Family Court ruled: 'This is not a case about gender dysphoria, rather it is about a mother who has developed a belief structure which she has imposed upon her child.

'I am bound to say that had the concerns [of school staff] been given the weight that they plainly should have, it is difficult to resist the conclusion the boy could have been spared a great deal of emotional harm.'

The High Court, pictured, recently ruled that a seven-year-old boy should be taken from his mother's care and given to his father after she tried to raise the youngster as a girl  

He added: 'Transgender equality has received a great deal of attention in recent times. I believe that in this case the profile and sensitivity of the matters raised by the mother blinded a number of professionals from applying their training, skill, and, it has to be said, common sense.

'They failed properly to investigate the mother’s assertions, in part I suspect, because they did not wish to appear to be challenging an emerging orthodoxy in such a high-profile issue.'

In this latest case, the 14-year-old girl's mother told the Sunday Times: 'The rights of parents in the UK are being eroded, especially those who have traditional Christian values. It is leaving parents to feel fearful, vulnerable and intimidated. 

'We were told by the psychiatrist that Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services said that if the name change does not happen then she would be a high suicide risk.' 

The girl's parents are devout Christians and do not accept the daughter's decision. 

Social workers claim he girl has a close 'heterosexual' relationship with a 13-year-old girl. 

The Christian Legal Centre are supporting the family and funding their legal costs. Andrea Williams of the Centre added: 'The transgender cultural movement is creating a new "conflict of rights" within the family. This is the emperor's new clothes. Authorities are forcing an agenda that is not true, and harmful to children. This case demonstrates shocking disregard for parental authority: no one is listening to what the parents want or have to say. The know the child the best, and have the child's interests at heart.'