Patriots' TreVeyon Henderson explains siding with family over DCF in custody dispute involving gender identity
New England Patriots running back TreVeyon Henderson stood his ground Thursday when questioned about a social media post defending a Massachusetts family that claims the state took custody of their teenage daughter after the parents refused to affirm her gender transition.
The parents, Joseph and Arlene Kutzko, have been fighting DCF to regain custody of their daughter since charges were filed against them in January 2025, around the time they claim they refused to consent to medical procedures intended to transition her to a male.
In the post, Henderson, a devout Christian, shared a video clip from Fox News, and quoted Scripture. He said, "These parents who want to honor our Lord and lead their daughter into the truth, and away from what she can’t see that will destroy her just as God has entrusted the parents to do. May justice be served."
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Henderson, who is a Christian, stood on Biblical principles on an 80-20 issue. His post so far is resonating. It had 3.5 million views as of Thursday evening.
But when he met with reporters in Foxboro on Thursday, they seemingly asked as many questions about that issue as his status for Sunday's home opener against the Pittsburgh Steelers.
"Yeah, I think the biggest thing, what I saw on my end is I saw the, the state take away someone's child because they didn't want to affirm the daughter as a boy," Henderson said in explaining his reasoning for the post. "And I heard that the school, without the parents' permission, tried to transition a child or do some sort of thing to transition her into a boy.
"And I don't believe that's right. I believe the family, being a Catholic family and having certain morals that they go by and live by, they have the God-given right to raise up their kid, to know the Lord, to honor the Lord.
"...I think what they were doing, trying to raise up their kid the right way from, from what I've read and heard, I think that the family did right by not affirming their daughter as a boy, but choosing to affirm her the way that God created her to be as a girl."
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Reporters pressed Henderson on local reports that the child's father is alleged to have pulled his daughter's hair and even threatened to kill her. The allegations led to no criminal findings and, indeed, all charges are scheduled to be dropped if the father stays away from the girl.
And, again, Henderson held firm.
"It doesn't mean that he was guilty of those charges," Henderson said. "It's just accusations. Just as the same way people make accusations against me, it doesn't mean that those accusations are true. It's just accusations at the end of the day.
"I think you're innocent until you're proven guilty. So if he was guilty, then that's on me, because I didn't know all of that. But if he's not guilty, if these are just accusations that they're making about the father, then I don't think that's right to run away with that and say, the father did this, so we have to take his daughter away.
"I still don't think that's right."
The Boston Herald has reported that Kutzkos’ attorney, Vernadette Broyles, said a restraining order stands against the parents after an unidentified adult assisted the child in obtaining the order against them after being in state custody for nearly a year.
Those details aren't moving Henderson, who believes his advocacy is coming from God.
"I think my perspective of this world has changed," he said. "I just try to look at this world through a Biblical lens now, and, yeah, I feel the calling on my life. I'm not here to just play football. I think I have it in my bio that football is what I do, but a child of God is who I am.
"And so, first and foremost, I'm going to honor God above all else. I know it comes with a cause. But like the Bible says, like, what do I gain if I hold on to my life, but at the end of the day, I lose it? But if I lose my life for His name's sake, then I gain true life, and that's what I gained."
So football is becoming secondary to God for Henderson.
"With this game or without this game, with money or without money, as long as I have Jesus, I got everything that I need," he said. "And so my heart is fulfilled. And I'll continue to honor the Lord and live for him, no matter what it costs me, because I know at the end of the day, it'll all be worth it."