A Missouri father’s speech about his transgender daughter is making the rounds on social media as Missouri debates taking away more trans rights.
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Brandon Boulware spoke to Missouri lawmakers earlier this month regarding HJR 53, which aims to stop transgender girls from playing in girls’ sports.
“I’m a lifelong Missourian, I’m a business lawyer, I’m a Christian, I’m the son of a Methodist minister, I’m a husband, I’m the father of four kids — two boys, two girls, including a wonderful and beautiful transgender daughter,” Boulware said.
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He turned his attention to those in the room who may not “get it” when it comes to trans issues, saying he once was among them.
“For years, I didn’t get it. For years, I would not let my daughter wear girl clothes. I did not let her play with girl toys,” he said. “I forced my daughter to wear boy clothes, and get short haircuts, and play on boys’ sports teams.”
Boulware claimed he thought he was protecting his daughter, her siblings, and even himself from a society that has yet to fully accept trans identities.
But the result was unsurprising — his daughter was miserable.
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“No confidence, no friends, no laughter. I can honestly say this—I had a child who did not smile,” he said.
But Boulware goes on to describe the day that everything clicked into place for him. His daughter had snuck a dress from her sister and was wearing it while playing outside when he called her in for dinner. She wanted to go across the street and play instead, but he said no.
“She asked me if she went inside and put on boy clothes, could she then go across the street and play,” he recounted. “And it was then that it hit me that my daughter was equating being good with being someone else. I was teaching her to deny who she is.
“As a parent, the one thing we cannot do, the one thing, is silence our child’s spirit. And so on that day, my wife and I stopped silencing our child’s spirit.”
Boulware now describes his daughter as confident and happy—and part of what makes her happy is playing on the girls’ volleyball team, something that HJR 53 would take away.
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It’s a bill that’s divided Missourians and frustrated trans rights activists across the country, but Boulware’s impassioned plea not to take something that makes his daughter happy away from her and all the other trans kids in the state who use sports to socialize and fit in just like any other kids resonated with people.
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As parents, we are just the temporary guardians of our kids. Their lives belong to them. We don’t own them.
That dad fills my heart.
— BerlySays (@BerlySays1) March 16, 2021
That’s the thing. You don’t have to get it because it doesn’t directly effect you. This is probably the best response I’ve seen related to this topic.
If everyone minded their own business what a great place this would be.—
Mask Up, Bitches!
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As HuffPost notes, other states are trying to impose similar anti-trans legislation that will have a harmful impact on transgender youth, when it would be so much simpler to just let them be who they are.
*First Published: March 16, 2021, 7:54 am
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