The dad of a self-identifying “transgender” child has caught the attention of many for his plea to state lawmakers in Missouri.
In the now-viral social media clip, Brandon Boulware calls on Missouri authorities to go against the House Joint Resolution 53 (HJR 53), which would require (just like everywhere around the world) students to play sports on the team that reflects their biological sex. More than 20 states are to implement similar bills that would ban “trans” kids from playing on girls’ sports teams.
Boulware introduced himself at the state legislature recently as a business attorney, a Christian, and the son of a Methodist minister, and said that at first, he struggled to be supportive of his “wonderful and beautiful” “transgender” daughter.
“One thing I often hear when transgender issues are discussed is, ‘I don’t get it — I don’t understand,’” he said. “I didn’t get it either. For years, I didn’t get it.”
MUST WATCH: Brandon Boulware, the father of a transgender daughter, testifies during a hearing asking Missouri lawmakers to stop discriminating against trans youth. pic.twitter.com/bTuSoyE1nW
— ACLU (@ACLU) March 15, 2021
He went on to say that he forced his child to wear a boy’s haircut and play with boy toys, even though he told him he prefers to be a girl.
“I did not want my daughter or her siblings to get teased. And truth be told … I wanted to avoid those inevitable questions.”
“Why did I do this? To protect my child,” the father explained. “I did not want my daughter or her siblings to get teased. And truth be told, I did it to protect myself as well. I wanted to avoid those inevitable questions as to why my child did not look and act like a boy.”
Boulware said his child was feeling down.
“I cannot overstate that. She was absolutely miserable,” he recalled. “Especially at school. No confidence, no friends, no laughter.”
He then shared a story about the day everything turned around from him.
He had just come back home from his job and found his son playing with his older sister wearing a dress.
“They wanted to go across the street and play with the neighbors’ kids,” the father said.
“As a parent, the one thing we cannot do is silence our child’s spirit," Brandon Boulware says. "I ask you please don’t take that away from my daughter or the countless others like her who are out there…Let them have their childhoods.” https://t.co/oekpTEToEj
— NBC Out (@NBCOUT) March 17, 2021
And when he told them no, his son said he would change back into his normal clothes.
He asked whether if he took off the dress, he could stay out a bit longer.
“It was then that it hit me. My daughter was equating being good with being someone else,” Boulware said. “I was teaching her to deny who she is. As a parent, the one thing we cannot do is silence our child’s spirit. So on that day, my wife and I stopped silencing our child’s spirit. The moment we allowed my daughter to be who she is, to grow her hair, to wear the clothes she wanted to wear, she was a different child. It was immediate. It was a total transformation.”
If the new bill passes, Boulware’s son will not be able to play on the girls volleyball or tennis team.
“I ask you please don’t take that away from my daughter or the countless others like her who are out there,” the father said. “Let them have their childhoods. Let them be who they are.”
As harsh as it may sound, Mr. Boulware may want to look into why so many people are in support of bills such as HJR 53.
In the video below, high school athlete Selina Soule talks about the struggles she’s had to face since schools started allowing biological boys to play in girls sports.
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