She told me when she was six.
She came in, and I was washing dishes,
and she said, 'Mom, I'm a girl,'
and I said, 'You don't have to be a girl to like girl things, you know.
Gender is a spectrum.'
And she sort of nodded, but she looked exhausted,
and went, 'Thank you, but I'm a girl who likes girl things.'
And she just gave me this look.
I don't know what she means, but she's trying to tell me something,
and it's my job as her parent to figure out what it is and how to help her.
You can feel uncomfortable around someone who is different from you and you don't understand,
but that does not give you the right to legislate against them.
For every parent of a transgender child here today,
there are crowds of others you're not seeing.
To protect our children's identities, many parents, like our children, have been hiding,
but this bill, and others like it, will make it too dangerous for us to live in Texas.
The percentage of transgender people is so small,
but one very important part of that percentage is our daughter,
and people need to know what's happening,
and people need to know that trans kids exist and their lives are not up for debate.
Governor Greg Abbott and State Attorney General Ken Paxton
have directed state agencies to conduct investigations
of families when they provide gender affirming medical care for transgender children.
Governor Greg Abbott has called on quote licensed professionals and even the public
to report parents who seek gender affirming care for their kids.
We know people who are being investigated.
All of the things that you thought would never occur started to occur.
This is the piece of paper that our kids had to carry around in their backpacks.
They carried this document with them to school every day so they could hand the piece of paper
to any CPS agent who showed up to ask them questions.
I went, 'Do you have any questions?'
And I just hear this little ten-year-old voice behind me ask,
'Am I going to die?'
She had tears streaming down her face,
and I went, 'Why, why would you ask me if you're going to die?
No. No.'
And she went, 'Because everybody here hates me.'
Even though my daughter is too young to receive gender affirming healthcare,
how can we ask her to grow up in a state that won't allow her to exist as herself?
Bye.
We found our moving truck!
Goodbye Texas!
We just crossed into New Mexico.
How do you guys feel?
Good! I feel Great!
What is that guys?
Chimney
To say something like, 'We are gender refugees,'
it sounds like something out of the Handmaid's Tale.
Oh yeah
Back in Austin, there are a lot of things that were going on.
I just felt overwhelmed.
And I also felt safer to move, like much safer.
So you knew it was the right decision also?
I knew it was the right decision but also the sad decision.
I thought that we were going to live in Austin, in that house, in the same neighborhood
as my brother and my nephews and my niece with my parents just a couple of miles away,
I thought we were going to live there forever.
Not everyone understands how to support trans children,
but to knowingly withhold best practice medical care,
to have the evidence of what is needed and to deny it, that's child abuse.
We've done everything right.
We've gotten all the best sound medical advice from pediatricians, neurologists, psychologists,
and we're only trying to follow what our medical community says are
the best choices you can make as a parent.
For anyone who thinks, 'Oh gosh. I don't really know.
I mean, is it is it good to provide healthcare to trans kids? Is this is this even real?'
What I want them to put themselves in our position
and think about what you would do if your child came to you in distress
and said, 'This is who I am. Please believe me.'
You guys having a good Pride? Yeah?
While I never wanted my life to be about fighting my home state,
trying to convince people that my daughter has a right to bodily autonomy,
I'm her parent, and of course I'm gonna do that,
and I'm going to continue doing it out of state.