A California dad has been granted full custody of his now four-year-old son after the boy’s mother tried to raise him non-binary and forced him to wear dresses and make up.
Harrison Tinsley announced his victory in the years-long legal battle with his ex-girlfriend to gain full custody of his son, Sawyer, in an update on his online fundraiser for legal fees on July 18.
The father-of-one described how he felt like he was ‘watching a miracle’ when he found out he would be the boy’s full-time caregiver.
‘It definitely is a pretty wonderful feeling to fight for something so hard and to actually achieve it,’ Tinsley told The Daily Signal.
Harrison Tinsley announced he won full custody of his son in an update on his online fundraiser for legal fees on July 18
Tinsley explained that he had always wanted to be a father and was ‘ecstatic’ when his girlfriend told him in 2019 she was pregnant.
‘Unfortunately that excitement turned to pain when his mother, who suffers from serious underlying mental health problems, abruptly ended our relationship and prevented me from seeing Sawyer,’ he wrote in the fundraiser.
Tinsley was only able to meet his son when Sawyer was 15 months old, and the two quickly bonded.
‘Sawyer is not only my best friend, he is the most amazing, greatest blessing of my life,’ he said.
But the boy’s mother had begun a same-sex relationship and started to identify as non-binary – treating Sawyer as non-binary as well.
‘She calls him “they” and puts him in dresses, girl diapers and makeup,’ Tinsley wrote.
‘She threw Sawyer a girly-themed party for his second birthday party where she made him wear a dress donned with a sheriff’s badge.’
At another time, he told The Daily Signal, the mother brought Sawyer to Disneyland – but would not let him go on the rides unless he wore the princess shoes she got him.
Tinsley said the boy’s mother forced him to wear dresses and makeup
But Sawyer fought back against his mother, Tinsley wrote.
‘Sawyer says his mother tells him he is both a boy and a girl, but Sawyer is fully aware he is a boy,’ he said.
‘Thankfully, he has my rebellious spirit and fights back whenever his mother gaslights him.
‘However, I am certain this is confusing him and emotionally traumatizing. He is not old enough to even be thinking about this ideology, but his mother is coercing him into it.’
Tinsley then filed a motion for custody of the boy last year, after he learned that Sawyer’s mother was arrested for felony child endangerment and subsequently discovered she slandered and defamed him.
He said he ‘presented eight hours of police body camera footage, 800 pages of documentary evidence and psychological studies showing Sawyer’s health, safety and well-being were jeopardized by his mother, her mental health problems and political ideology.’
But the judge at that time ruled against him.
Tinsley said he presented ‘evidence and psychological studies showing Sawyer’s health, safety and well-being were jeopardized by his mother, her mental health problems and political ideology’ but a judge initially ruled against him
By December 2023, Tinsley’s appeal had begun, and he recently told The Daily Signal that a settlement had been reached in which he was granted full custody and the final say if there are any disagreements between him and the boy’s mother.
That settlement came after Child Protective Services did an investigation and recommended that Tinsley get full custody of the boy – and that the boy’s mother undergo full drug and alcohol testing.
Over the course of the investigation, Tinsley said the boy’s mother tried to paint him as ‘some right-wing hillbilly from Mississippi or something, even though I had nothing to do with the investigation – and that shouldn’t matter anyway.
‘In reality, I’m just some California dude with long hair and skinny jeans, and that’s ridiculous to make that up about me.’
It is unclear what prompted Child Protective Services to investigate the mother, but Tinsley said he is grateful to the investigator.
‘It was extremely favorable for Sawyer and me,’ he said in the 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 felt was best for the child.
‘It was divine that I got the CPS worker I did and they really did their job – they did not care about politics,’ he added, noting that he believes the mother’s mental health issues and the ‘scary situations’ they caused contributed to the CPS recommendation.
‘It’s sad, though, that it had to get so severe,’ Tinsley said, arguing that he believes anyone who pushes gender ideology on young children ‘have to have some underlying serious mental health issues.
‘It’s madness,’ Tinsley said. ‘Kids don’t care about sex or identity or all these fake, weird concepts. They just care about having fun and getting to spend time with their parents – and it’s insane that we’re even considering this as a possibility to talk to children with.’
Tinsley said Sawyer has now been in his custody for about four and a half months
Tinsley said he wants to help other parents who may be dealing with a similar situation – calling gender ideology ‘one of the greatest evils we’ve ever done’ as he compared it to lobotomies.
‘I just want to help more people protect children,’ Tinsley said.
‘I want to protect more kids. I think it’s the battle of our lifetime.’
As for Sawyer, Tinsley said the boy has been in his custody for about four-and-a-half months and ‘he’s thriving’.
‘He’s doing so good in every way, socially, he has less tantrums now and it just seems like his overall well-being is just dramatically improved having that constant stability, and I’m just so thankful to be a part of it,’ the proud father said.
Tinsley went on to say he is ‘just so excited to making a brighter future for him, to watch him grow’.
The proud dad said: ‘It’s just going to be amazing. Sawyer’s going to have a great life.’