California father gets full custody of 4-year-old son after boy’s mother tried to raise child non-binary

A California father has been awarded full custody of his now 4-year-old son after the boy’s mother tried to raise him non-binary and forced him to wear dresses and makeup.

Harrison Tinsley announced his victory in the years-long legal battle with his ex-girlfriend over full custody of his son Sawyer in a update on his online fundraising for legal fees on July 18th.

The father of one described how he felt like he was “watching a miracle happen” when he learned he would be caring for the boy full-time.

“It’s definitely an amazing feeling to fight so hard for something and actually achieve it,” Tinsley said told The Daily Signal.

Harrison Tinsley announced he has been granted full custody of his son in an update to his online legal fees fundraiser on July 18

Tinsley explained that he had always wanted to be a father and was “over the moon” when his girlfriend told him she was pregnant in 2019.

“Sadly, that excitement turned to pain when his mother, who struggles with serious mental health issues, abruptly ended our relationship and prevented me from seeing Sawyer,” he wrote in the fundraiser.

Tinsley wasn’t able to meet his son until Sawyer was 15 months old, and the two quickly bonded.

“Sawyer is not only my best friend, he is also the most amazing and greatest blessing in my life,” he said.

But the boy’s mother had entered into a same-sex relationship and began identifying as nonbinary. She also treated Sawyer as nonbinary.

“She calls him ‘she’ and dresses him in dresses, diapers and makeup,” Tinsley wrote.

“She threw a girly party for Sawyer’s second birthday where she made him wear a dress with a sheriff’s badge on it.”

At another time, he told The Daily Signal that the mother took Sawyer to Disneyland but wouldn’t let him go on the rides unless he wore the princess shoes she had bought for him.

Tinsley said the boy’s mother forced him to wear dresses and makeup

But Sawyer stood up to his mother, Tinsley wrote.

“Sawyer says his mother tells him he’s both a boy and a girl, but Sawyer knows full well he’s a boy,” he said.

‘Luckily, he has my rebellious spirit and fights back when his mother gaslights him.

“But I’m sure it’s confusing him and emotionally traumatizing. He’s not old enough to even think about this ideology, but his mother is forcing him to.”

Last year, Tinsley filed for custody of the boy after learning that Sawyer’s mother had been arrested for child abuse and later discovered that she had slandered and defamed him.

He said he presented “eight hours of police body camera footage, 800 pages of documentary evidence and psychological studies showing that Sawyer’s health, safety and well-being were endangered by his mother, her mental health issues and political ideology.”

But the judge at the time ruled against him.

Tinsley said he had presented “evidence and psychological studies showing that Sawyer’s health, safety and well-being were at risk because of his mother, her mental health issues and political ideology,” but a judge initially ruled against him

In December 2023, Tinsley’s appeal began and he recently told The Daily Signal that a settlement had been reached in which he was awarded full custody and that he has the final say if any disagreements arise between him and the boy’s mother.

The settlement was reached after Child Protective Services conducted an investigation and recommended that Tinsley be given full custody of the boy and that the boy’s mother undergo full drug and alcohol testing.

Tinsley said that during the investigation, the boy’s mother tried to portray him as “some right-wing farmer from Mississippi or something,” even though “I had nothing to do with the investigation — and it shouldn’t matter.”

“I’m really just a guy from California with long hair and skinny jeans, and it’s ridiculous to make something like that up about me.”

It’s unclear what prompted Child Protective Services to investigate the mother, but Tinsley said he is grateful to the investigator.

“It was extremely beneficial for Sawyer and I,” he said in a recent podcast with The Daily Signal. “And I’m just so grateful that CPS and San Francisco, California, put politics aside and did what they thought was best for the child.

“It was divine that I got the CPS worker that I did, and they really did their job — they didn’t care about politics,” he added, noting that he believes the mother’s mental health issues and the “frightening situations” they created contributed to CPS’s recommendation.

“It’s sad that it had to get this serious,” Tinsley said, arguing that anyone who pushes a gender ideology on young children “must have underlying, serious mental health issues.”

“It’s crazy,” Tinsley said. “Kids don’t care about sex or identity or any of these fake, weird concepts. They just want to have fun and spend time with their parents — and it’s crazy that we’re even considering this as an option to talk to kids.”

Tinsley said Sawyer has now been in custody for about four and a half months

Tinsley said he wants to help other parents who are facing a similar situation. He called gender ideology “one of the greatest evils we have ever committed” and compared it to lobotomies.

“I just want to help more people protect children,” Tinsley said.

“I want to protect more children. I think this is the fight of our lives.”

As for Sawyer, Tinsley said the boy has been in his custody for about four and a half months and “he’s doing very well.”

“He’s doing so well on all fronts, socially, he’s having fewer tantrums now and it seems like his overall well-being has improved tremendously with that constant stability. I’m so grateful to be a part of that,” said the proud father.

Tinsley went on to say that he is “so excited to create a better future for him and to watch him grow.”

The proud father said, “It’s just going to be amazing. Sawyer is going to have a great life.”