KANSAS CITY, Mo. — It’s a fight Debi Jackson describes as “exhausting,” but one the mother of two is devoted to continuing.
“She just wants to be a regular teenager," Jackson said. "She just wants to deal with all the things every other 13-year-old is dealing with without this additional weight on her shoulders."
Jackson’s 13-year-old daughter, Avery, is transgender. She socially transitioned when she was 4.
“Once we switched pronouns and started saying that she is our daughter and our son’s sister, this light came through and you could just see it and (Avery) glowed," Jackson said. "She became so happy and so confident."
Now, Jackson worries about how a proposed bill in Missouri could affect Avery’s confidence and the confidence of other transgender children.
State lawmakers are pushing for a bill that would prohibit transgender students from playing on sports teams that align with their identities, forcing athletes to compete on teams based on their assigned sex at birth.
The Missouri House of Representatives advanced a version of the transgender athlete ban.
Those who voted in favor of it argued it would protect cisgender girls from having to compete against transgender girls and share the same locker room.
Jackson thinks such arguments completely miss the point.
“That’s what people are missing form this entire debate,” she said. “Trans kids just want a chance. They want to be a part of something. They want to have a connection with their friends and want to hang out with them. They are not coming in to steal opportunities or ruin anyone’s sport. They are just trying to be involved.”
Kansas lawmakers passed a similar bill, which sought to ban transgender females from competing in high school and college athletic competitions in the state.
Gov. Laura Kelly vetoed the bill on Thursday, calling it regressive policymaking, but the Kansas legislature may try to revive the bill later this year.
“There will be a fight down the road," Kendall Seal, the policy director for the ACLU of Kansas, said. "There will be an effort to override the governor’s veto."
