Skylar, Age 16, Virginia
SKYLAR: The government is taking away your dignity, and it’s really degrading. They are stripping away your rights as a human, because for a lot of transgirls taking hormones is kind of a way of becoming who you are, like growing as a person. I’m not thinking about it for my sake, I’m thinking about it for the transgirls in Texas and what they are going through. I think it’s my right to speak up about this sort of thing because even though it’s not specifically affecting me, I feel that I’m obligated to speak about this to protect those other transgirls. It kind of worries me for a lot of reasons what our country is becoming.
DAD: It’s scary. It’s frustrating. It’s a struggle to understand where this all is coming from, what justification these people have for persecuting people that they don’t understand. Virginia could change, we have a governor that would flip in a minute and change these laws and follow Texas’s lead. We’re not safe. We have two years left and we’re sort of mentally counting down the time till Skylar’s an adult and will be safe from some of this.
MOM: It’s not fair and it’s not right. We’ve known Skylar was trans since she was three years old, just a very classic case. We did the research, took the necessary steps to get access to hormones and allow her to transition and I couldn’t imagine if they tried to take her blockers away. I mean she’s turning into a beautiful girl, and she’s transitioning. I feel like if she hadn’t been allowed to do that, or continue to do that, her mental health would just really, really suffer. We’re preventing her from committing suicide.
SKYLAR: Don’t let anything stop you from becoming who you are, because even if your hormones are taken away from you or you’re not allowed to start hormones – if you’re proud of yourself then that’s all that matters. You just can’t give that up.
DAD: To parents that don’t understand, you’re not really meant to understand. You’re there to support and to accept, not just tolerate- but accept. Just be a parent and love your child unconditionally and educate yourself.
MOM: The statistics show that when someone is not supported within the family the suicide rates go up, substance abuse, runaway, homelessness the whole thing. It’s drastically reduced when you’ve got support from your parents and family. It’s crucial.
BROTHER: It’s dumb. That’s the only thing I have to say. They don’t have a reason to do it.