Transgender Rights in Texas
Dear Governor Abbott,
A common tool taught by therapists to help conflictual parties communicate more effectively is the I-statement. The template I provide in therapy sessions is: “I feel (emotion), when (event) happened, what I need from ‘you’ is (express need)”. This is the template I’ll use to express my emotions and needs from you in regards to your call for Texas state agencies to classify gender affirming medical treatments & procedures for children as “child abuse”.
I feel sad when life saving efforts for transgender and gender expansive children are criminalized by politicians. What I need from you is to listen and to DEcriminalize parents efforts.
In regard to my first need, please listen to the stories of these children. Listen to their hurt and their pain, from years of damage already done by a society that rejects their authentic selves. Listen to their need for medical treatments and procedures - care that saves their lives! Listen to their JOY when they get approved for these necessary medical treatments and procedures! Listen to their parents JOY when their child is free from deep pain and dark sorrow.
Listen to the facts. Facts about the short- and long-term effects of proper medical care for transgender and gender expansive children. Listen to professionals from the World Professional Association for Transgender Health who provide these facts because they have dedicated themselves to finding and implementing ethical, empirically backed best practices for this population and their care.
Listen to me share some of their stories. I joyfully use my privilege as a cisgender adult to amplify their voices. The voice of a child who can now stand in their family photos because they see an accurate representation of themselves staring back at them, after getting a gender-affirming haircut. The voice of a child who has parents holding them through every dark day until they get top-surgery to affirm their gender identity - parents who use their own privilege and power to get through the red tape of the medical world to save their child’s life. The voice of children who rejoice because they are still alive! Who wish they could go back and sit with their small selves, comforting them in their darkest moments.
In regard to my second need, please decriminalize parents efforts and instead empower them! Empower parents to access the necessary medical treatments and procedures that will provide gender affirming care to their children. Empower them to save their children’s lives; to be the caregiver their children need them to be.
As I stand on your Texas soil today, I hope for a future where my needs are met by those in positions of power far greater than my own. Those who use their privilege out of faith and not in fear fear, to make our world a safer place for all marginalized populations. Please put your faith in our children and in their futures. I look forward to having them as my leaders some day!
Best,
Lacey Bagley, PhD, LMFT, UT #10971844-3902
she/her/hers (pronouns?)
Owner & Clinical Director
Celebrate Therapy