Thread by @FierceMum

For folks who won't watch a whole video of US parents of trans kids talking about their experience, here's one US mom's story: (thread)

"Our daughter, who was identified male at birth, came to me before her 7th birthday, looked me straight in the eye and said ‘mom, I’m a girl"

https://twitter.com/HRC/status/1090612376649457664

"In a way I think we had known that for a long time & that it was coming, but we were very scared of what that might mean.

When we went to see a therapist, she said 'I knew since I was 4 but I thought you would hate me & I thought people wouldn’t love me anymore'."

"And all we’ve ever wanted to do for our children is love them, and I know that’s the same for every family here.

She didn’t even know the word transgender, she didn’t know that it was a thing that you could be and she was so scared to even tell her family."

"We were at a school where ultimately they said she could not transition.

She was a straight A student, really well behaved, but she had to go in a male uniform, use her old name, her old pronouns. And she would come home every day after school and rip the uniform off"

"And one day I found a picture of her that was taken at school and she had ripped it in half and said

‘I hate myself’.

And we took her out of school that night. It was a pivotal moment for our family."

"I left my business and started home schooling. Because we did not know what to do and because we are not going to lose our baby.

We decided to sue the school, because we do not want any other family to go through this, not ever again."

"We worked with a new school for 6 months, we begged, & pleaded, & shared our story, & they changed their policy & started training principles.

And she got into a gifted student programme, straight A’s kid, who loves school, loves her friends and is a happy thriving person"

"But then she heard about the trans military ban, my dad had left the TV on, and the colour drained out of her face and she said

‘why to they hate us so much?’

So it is a constant battle"

"We still have parents who want to be able to discriminate against transgender children

There are teachers who ask if they can not teach our kids

Something like the equality act would help our kids know that they are protected so they can grow and thrive like every child."

This is one US mom's story of the experience of her trans child & the legislative & social change that is so badly needed. In the UK I hear stories like this daily through parent of trans children groups. But our UK stories too rarely reach policy makers or politicians

Partnerships between advocacy and rights organisations, between child welfare organisations, and parents of trans children, is vitally important. Additional to those organisations also finding ways to partner directly with older trans adolescents themselves.

Partnerships between MPs and parents of trans children are also badly needed. In the US politician Joe Kennedy is leading this effort, working alongside parents of trans children, speaking about families with trans children at the highest levels. In the UK we wait in hope