{"id":22995,"date":"2025-03-25T22:36:30","date_gmt":"2025-03-26T04:36:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/durango-mother-accuses-couple-of-illegally-housing-her-transgender-child\/"},"modified":"2026-03-30T22:23:08","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T04:23:08","slug":"durango-mother-accuses-couple-of-illegally-housing-her-transgender-child","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/durango-mother-accuses-couple-of-illegally-housing-her-transgender-child\/","title":{"rendered":"Durango mother accuses couple of illegally housing her transgender child"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\"Cindy
Cindy Stein, in the driver\u2019s seat, went to the home of Vivian and JoAnn Smotherman on Jan. 5 to try to retrieve her child who either ran away or was kicked out of the house Dec. 22. A La Plata County Sheriff\u2019s deputy told Stein that the teen was not in distress and could not be compelled to leave the premises. (Screenshot)<\/span>cca<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

A Durango mother is accusing a former Colorado state senate candidate and her wife, a former Durango High School math teacher, of illegally harboring her transgender child, who left home in December.<\/p>\n

La Plata County Sheriff\u2019s deputies say Vivian and JoAnn Smotherman did nothing wrong by providing a place for Cynthia Stein\u2019s child to stay after he left home following an argument with his mother. Deputies declined to force the teen, who turned 18 on Tuesday, to return home.<\/p>\n

In a written statement Tuesday, the Smothermans called the accusations \u201ccategorically false, deeply defamatory, and extraordinarily dangerous.\u201d<\/p>\n

Vivian Smotherman, who is transgender, ran unsuccessfully last year as a Democrat in Senate District 6. Her wife, JoAnn Smotherman, taught math at DHS through June 2024. Both are outspoken advocates of LGBTQ rights.<\/p>\n

The Daily Wire, a self-described right-leaning<\/a> media outlet, posted a story Tuesday presenting the mother\u2019s account. Events culminated on Jan. 5, when she and two other women went to the Smothermans\u2019 home to retrieve her child, then 17. The teen had left home on Dec. 22. Some reports said he ran away, but the teen told law enforcement Stein had kicked him out and taken his house key.<\/p>\n

Efforts to reach Stein for comment were unsuccessful Tuesday.<\/p>\n

The Daily Wire story repeatedly used incorrect gender pronouns for Vivian Smotherman and the teen.<\/p>\n\n

Sheriff\u2019s deputies responded to the Smothermans\u2019 home on Jan. 5 and performed a welfare check, seeing no signs of distress, according to body camera footage posted online.<\/p>\n

\u201cA minor\u2019s a minor and (the child) does not have my permission to be here,\u201d Stein told deputies that evening while waiting in a car near the property.<\/p>\n

A deputy explained the situation did not \u201crise to the level of law enforcement involvement\u201d because no crime had been committed. The teen was not in distress, had left voluntarily and was free to leave the Smothermans\u2019 home at any time.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo, I\u2019m sorry, you\u2019re telling me that you\u2019re not going to \u2026\u201d Stein began.<\/p>\n

\u201c\u2026 physically rip (the child) out of that home? Yeah,\u201d the deputy responded.<\/p>\n

In a video produced by the Colorado Parent Advocacy Network, Stein said she believes \u201cJoann Smotherman is responsible for my broken daughter thinking that all of her problems are because she\u2019s truly a boy.\u201d<\/p>\n

Stein added that her \u201cgut feeling\u201d is that there \u201cis something sinister behind it.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cSmotherman stepped in and took advantage of my kid,\u201d Stein told The Daily Wire. \u201cShe\u2019s just inserted herself into my family, and I still can\u2019t get her out.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Vivian
Vivian Smotherman, who is transgender, ran unsuccessfully in Senate District 6 last year. Her wife, JoAnn Smotherman, taught math at DHS through June 2024. Both are outspoken advocates of LGBTQ rights. (Jerry McBride\/Durango Herald file)<\/span>cca<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

JoAnn Smotherman, in a brief interview, said she met the teen while teaching. In a statement, the couple said the teen had fled a \u201cdangerous environment\u201d and reached out to supportive networks.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis was not about his gender,\u201d the Smothermans wrote. \u201cIt was about compassion. It was about protecting a vulnerable young person when no one else would. We did not seek him out. We did not groom him. We offered safety, food, and support while he found his footing and began building a life on his own terms. That is not a crime. That is what decent people do.\u201d<\/p>\n

The couple said they have received threats of violence, including death threats, but are standing by their actions.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis story is not just about us. It is part of a larger, coordinated campaign to vilify transgender people and the families \u2013 chosen or otherwise \u2013 who stand by them,\u201d the statement read. \u201cIt aims to paint protectors as predators and erase the humanity of young people who deserve safety, dignity, and love. We will not be silenced by lies. We will not be intimidated by threats. And we will not apologize for doing the right thing. Our door was open when it mattered \u2013 and it still is.\u201d<\/p>\n

rschafir@durangoherald.com<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Sheriff\u2019s Office says no law broken when teen fled to Vivian and JoAnn Smotherman\u2019s home<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":22996,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[28,1194,1765],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-22995","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-headlines","tag-la-plata-county-sheriffs-office","tag-lgbt"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22995","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=22995"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22995\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":77936,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22995\/revisions\/77936"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/22996"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22995"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22995"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22995"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=22995"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}