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A Los Angeles high school’s “secrecy policy” kept a California couple in the dark about their only child’s gender identity, helped “sever” the family’s relationship — and ultimately drove the teen to suicide, his parents alleged.
Dylan Parke was already struggling to fit in as a sophomore at Palisades Charter High School in Los Angeles in 2019-2020 when he told school staffers he would use she/her pronouns and go by the name “Aria,” as he transitioned into a woman.
Parke had been diagnosed with depression, was in mental health treatment and “appeared easily influenced and preoccupied with how others perceived him,” parents Kathleen Mulligan and Andrew Parke said in a California federal court lawsuit against the Los Angeles Unified School District, embattled superintendent Alberto Caravlho and others.
But despite their proactive involvement in Dylan’s life, staffers kept his trans declaration a secret — driving a wedge between the child and his desperate parents, they said in court papers.
They even ignored Mulligan in August 2020 when she emailed to voice her concerns, acknowledging her son was “transitioning socially.”
Mulligan assured the employee she was “not transphobic” but noted her concerns that Dylan — whom his parents described as a “bright and sensitive teenager who was deeply loved” — may have been on the autism spectrum, was “easily influenced,” and reeling from being left off the baseball team.
The worried mom voiced “her belief that Dylan was particularly vulnerable to social contagion related to gender identity, as his ‘trans identity’ appeared to provide him with a sense of belonging and validation from peers who were being celebrated for similar disclosures,” she said in the lawsuit.
“If I thought Dylan was really trans I would have a different mindset but I know my son better than anyone and I know he is struggling and I want what is best for him. He has so much potential and I worry about his mental health,” she wrote.
But educators did not answer Mulligan’s message and “further . . . denied them the opportunity to participate in the care of their minor son,” the parents said in the legal filing.
Staff treated Dylan’s transition “as an absolute directive and affirmed and reinforced it enthusiastically and with praise and support,” while also giving him information on housing for LGBTQ youth, according to the lawsuit.
It’s unclear if the teen transitioned physically.
The school’s interactions with the teenager allegedly destroyed the Parke family — leaving the parents confused and “walking on eggshells” and Dylan “withdrawn, oppositional, and distrustful.”
Palisades Charter High School listed Dylan in the June 2022 graduation program as “Aria Parke.”
The youth committed suicide in March 2024. He was 19.
The district’s “secrecy policy” weakened and “severed” the parent-child relationship and “ultimately resulted in Dylan’s suicide,” alleged his parents, who are seeking unspecified damages.
“It is every parents’ nightmare,” Mulligan and Parke said in their lawsuit.
“There are no more birthdays to celebrate, there is an empty seat at the Thanksgiving table, [they] will never see Dylan graduate from college, have a family, or watch him reach his full potential.”
A lawyer for the couple noted the irony of the district’s policy.
“In schools, parents must give permission for nearly everything, including receiving medicine, school trips . . . yet the secrecy policy at issue excluded parents from the incredibly consequential decision to transition their child,” attorney Aaron Siri told The Post.
In 2024, the Golden State passed the controversial AB 1955 law, barring schools from revealing a kid’s gender identity unless the child gives permission. The law was struck down in December by a federal judge.
Carvalho is reportedly being investigated by the FBI for fraud and was placed on paid administrative leave from his $440,000-a-year post after a Feb. 25 raid on his home.
“Los Angeles Unified does not comment on pending litigation,” a district spokesperson said.
Additional reporting by David Thompson
English (US)