Harrison Tinsley said his faith and family kept him going through the lengthy battle.
(LifeSiteNews) — A dad who recently won full custody of his son after a legal battle with his ex-wife, who wanted to raise their boy as “nonbinary,” said a “deep feeling” in his “soul” kept him going.
Harrison Tinsley now has full custody of his son Sawyer after a “4 1/2-year” battle that has been going on since the boy was born.
Tinsley, who did not even get to meet Sawyer until he was 15 months old, recently spoke to LifeSiteNews about what helped him in his fight.
“Sawyer says his mother tells him he is both a boy and a girl, but Sawyer is fully aware he is a boy,” Tinsley said in 2023, as previously reported by LifeSiteNews. “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.”
The boy’s mom was reportedly using “they/them” pronouns for Sawyer as well.
“Definitely my faith, Christianity,” but also “family, friends” and a “deep feeling in my soul that I have to do this no matter what pain I go through,” Tinsley said during a phone interview on Wednesday. “This is the right thing to do.”
That pain included court battles, a visit from Child Protective Services, raising money for legal fees, and dealing with an ex with mental health problems and substance abuse issues. The boy’s mother also would dress him like a girl, as previously reported by The Daily Signal.
Looking to the future helped Tinsley keep going.
“If I want to be a person that can look back at my life and say, ‘I do what’s right,’ that I have to do this, I have to do this to get my son, more than anything, just burned inside me no matter how anxious, and pain, how much suffering I was experiencing,” Tinsley told LifeSiteNews on Wednesday. “I just had to suck it up and just keep going, for him, I have to have responsibility (and) that duty.”
He said the “momentum” appears to be swinging in favor of biological reality and the truth.
“We have the momentum on our side, the vast majority of Americans don’t want any of this weird gender stuff being pushed on kids,” Tinsley said. Most Americans also oppose “guys in girls’ sports” and don’t want “secrets kept from parents.”
Some states, like California where Tinsley lives, require teachers and staff to hide a child’s alleged proclivities to identify as the opposite sex or as homosexual from parents. Even conservative states like Indiana have come under scrutiny for taking gender-confused kids from their parents.
“We just need to all find it within ourselves now to … speak the truth and we can actually stop this stuff, we can actually make a difference. The time is right now, we have the momentum, we have the high ground,” Tinsley said.
People just need to have the “courage” to “speak up.”
Parents who face similar custody battles should “make a decision in their heart they are going to do everything they can, give every bit of themselves, sacrifice whatever it takes, to protect their kid, no matter what.”
“No matter what money they spend, no matter what lies are told about them, no matter what, they just have to make that decision in their heart, and they have to fight as hard as they can and never give up,” he said. “It’s always darkest just before the dawn.”
It is part of the “duty” of a parent to “fight for” their kids.
Parents who at least try will find “purpose” in their life,” Tinsley told LifeSiteNews. “Now is the time where you fight for your kid, do the right thing, no matter what.”
In addition to winning the custody battle, Tinsley’s life has also improved in that he is now married, meeting his wife at a Turning Point USA conference.
He met his wife while at the conference getting interviewed about his story last year.
“It’s a good example of God putting good things in your life when you start doing things that matter,” he said.
