But after 6 years of feeling adrift, I am on the verge of having to uproot my life all over again. Republican legislators in the Texas Capitol have authored more than 20 pieces of legislation this year that seek to marginalize LGBTQ+ people and make it more difficult for children like my daughter to exist as themselves.
The most unthinkable of the many bad bills debated this year is Senate Bill 1646, which would brand me a “child abuser” if I continue to allow my daughter to be the girl she is. Should the bill become law, parents of trans youth could be criminalized if they allow their children to seek gender-affirming care, and they could even lose custody of their kids. Kai could be placed in foster care, even though there are already so many young people in the Texas foster care system that there aren’t enough beds for all of them.
My family is tired of fighting. We need people to fight for us, to keep children like Kai from being displaced any time their state decides to take away their ability to have families and communities that support them. We need all the heroes we can get right now, and we particularly need them in the White House. It’s time for Joe Biden to step up and prevent my home from being ripped apart.
In a recent joint speech to Congress, the president reaffirmed his support for the LGBTQ+ community by addressing transgender youth watching from their living rooms. “You’re so brave,” he said. “I want you to know your president has your back.” Kai was immensely grateful for his words, and I know that they touched so many others who rarely feel that their struggles are seen, especially from their elected leaders. Many of the Republicans pushing bills preventing trans kids from playing sports or going to the bathroom have never even met a transgender person and refuse to do so when parents reach out to educate them.
But as powerful as that speech was, it isn’t enough to stop what’s happening to transgender children across the country. Six states have signed bills into law this year banning trans students from playing sports on teams that match their gender identity, and my governor, Greg Abbott, has said that he wants Texas to be next.
What transgender youth and their loved ones need is action from the White House: bold, decisive leadership. As much as I would like to feel differently, we haven’t gotten that just yet. We have been left with questions that are largely unanswered. Instead of feeling like my president is there to protect me, I’m so scared of what the future holds. Will we have to move? Where can we go that my child will be safe? What if this happens all over again? Will it ever stop?
When Biden took office, he signed an executive order on his very first day directing the government to fight cases of anti-LGBTQ+ discrimination. His order was based on the Supreme Court’s 2020 ruling in Bostock v. Clayton County, in which judges said it’s illegal to fire someone or deny them employment because of their sexual orientation or gender identity. That unprecedented ruling allowed me to envision a future where Kai wouldn’t have to make difficult decisions about where she can be her full self. With Biden’s order in place, the White House is applying the Bostock ruling to areas like housing and health care, in order to ensure my daughter can rent an apartment or go to the doctor without fear.
As we learned from the previous administration, however, those protections can be easily overturned. When Donald Trump came into office in 2017, he immediately began gutting every hard-won victory made during the Obama era. The damage Trump did will take years to fix, and without Biden’s help, the next president who comes in could do it all over again. I don’t know if my family could survive that.
