A father in Missouri has delivered a short, powerful speech to lawmakers debating a bill concerned with trans athletes and school sports.
House Joint Resolution 53 (HJR 53) wants to restrict students to participating only in sports in accordance with the sex they were assigned at birth. It would specifically ban trans girls from participating in female sports and would amend the Missouri constitution to include the ban.
Brandon Boulware addressed a Missouri House committee on March 3, but the speech has gone viral since appearing the ACLU posted it to social media in the last couple of days.
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
Boulware introduces himself as a business lawyer, Christian, and son of a Methodist Minister. He is married and has four kids: two boys and two girls, including, “a wonderful and beautiful transgender daughter.”
How about we take this to the next level?
Our newsletter is like a refreshing cocktail (or mocktail) of LGBTQ+ entertainment and pop culture, served up with a side of eye-candy.
He says that one thing he often hears when transgender issues are discussed is, “I don’t get it. I don’t understand.” He says he can emphasize as he also used to feel that way.
He says for years he used to force his daughter to play with boys’ toys, play on boys’ sports teams, have her hair cut short, and wear boys’ clothing. He did it in an effort to protect his child and her siblings from teasing, and to also protect himself: “I wanted to avoid those inevitable questions as to why my child did not look and act like a boy.”
Related: Marjorie Taylor Greene puts up anti-trans sign on Congress corridor wall
He goes on to say the impact this had on his child.
“My child was miserable. I cannot overstate that … especially at school. No confidence, no friends, no laughter. I honestly say this, I had a child who did not smile.”
He goes on to talk of the day everything changed for him. He had arrived home from work and his daughter was playing on the front lawn with one of her brothers. She had sneaked on an old play dress belonging to her older sister.
She asked if she could go over the road to play with some of a neighbor’s kids. The dad said no and told her it was nearly time for dinner. His daughter asked him if she went in and changed into boy clothes, would she be allowed to stay out a bit longer and play with the other kids.
“It was then that it hit me. My daughter was equating being good with being someone else,” he says.
“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.
“I now have a confident, smiling, happy daughter. She plays on a girls’ volleyball team. She has friendships. She’s a kid.”
Related: Sade’s trans son posts moving Instagram post thanking mom
Boulware’s testimony failed to persuade lawmakers. HJR 53 passed one House committee last week by a vote of 8-6. It now awaits a vote in another.
If it passes that, it will go to the House of Representatives and Senate. If it succeeds, and because it is a constitutional amendment, it would have to go before Missouri voters in November 2022.
Missouri is currently considering two trans-specific pieces of legislation. Another bill debated last week is seeking to make transition-related medical treatments, such as puberty blockers, illegal for minors.
LumpyPillows
I agree with everything he said, but he said nothing about trans girls on girls sports teams. You can support trans girls without having to agree with them playing on sports teams with smaller girls.
Cam
Not sure why this has become a major issue.
queenofsupport
You are afraid of girls playing against other girls because they are too big. So my cisgendered daughter shouldn’t have been playing on the girls basketball team in high school because she was 6’2″ and bigger than, just about, everyone she ever played against???
jcool
i remember when all of the republicans backed title IX to make sure that there was fairness and equality in womens school athletics in america. oh wait,………
gevorg
xmeet.fun – a great project for single men who are looking for a sex partner!
Cam
The anti-Trans folks didn’t get enough play by screaming about bathrooms, so now are faking a freak out about the idea that the one trans kid in a school may want to play sports.
JessPH
He did not address the main problem of allowing trans women into women’s sports which is the unfairness of allowing biological males to compete against biological females. Being biologically male, trans women have the advantage of possessing larger muscles, greater bone density, and larger heart and lung capacities compared to the average biological woman. It’s not transohobia. It’s science and fairness.
Cam
I’m curious, who is a better basketball player. A cis woman who, because her parents are Dutch,, East African, or some other region of the world with tall folks, and a transwoman who is 5ft 2in?
It’s still amazing to me that since the bathroom fear mongering didn’t work, all of these Republicans are now screaming about women’s sports in High school. Something they never cared about and have wanted to defund for decades.
Leash
Studies about this topic are still relatively new, one study I found said that: After 4 months of hormone therapy Hgb (haemoglobin) rapidly reduces to levels seen in cisgender women. After 12 months of hormone therapy, significant decreases in measures of strength, LBM (lean body mass) and muscle area are observed, yet values remain above that observed in cisgender women, even after 36 months.
Now the study doesn’t say what what happens when you continue hormone therapy longer then 36 months. It also doesn’t say (or I can’t find it) how big the difference is that remains in muscle strength comparing trans and cisgender woman. I also can’t find info on whether the participants had hormone therapy before or after puberty, I’m not a scientist but I would assume that’s a big difference.
So there are alot of questions marks still, but I think that everyone has advantages or disadvantages no matter if trans or cis, competing in sport will never be 100% fair.
I don’t know why people make such a big deal out of this, it’s just sport, especially when it’s in school like who cares. I can only assume that some people think that someone that is not born in the wrong body would undergo hormone therapy just to rock the olympics or something. To which I say: I admire your determination.
( this was the study btw https: //bjsm.bmj.com/content/early/2021/02/28/bjsports-2020-103106 )
Joshooeerr
Trans kids are generally not on hormone therapy till late teens. They may be on puberty blockers.
jay_raines
You people have no idea of what you are talking about. You need to look at real studies not all this assumed biology bullshit. At this point if a trans kid is out enough to be in competition sports they would be on hormone blockers and then cross hormones before they had puberty. And in trans girls that have gone through puberty within a year of starting T blockers and estrogen, muscles and fat realign to female. They do test levels twice a year at the least anyways.
joeboyle49
JESSPH! YOU DON’T KNOW WHAT YOUR TALKING ABOUT NOT ALL TRANSWOMEN ARE THE SAME SIZE SOME ARE A LOT SMALLER THEN CISWOMEN!
Kangol2
His speech was beautiful but he had chance whatsoever of getting most of those Republicans to change their perspective. Would have changed his POV were it not for having a trans child of his own? I hope his daughter continues to heal and live in his truth, with his and his wife’s support.
James (controversial2019)
Missouri sucks (based on this!)
If a girl wants to play on the girl’s team, then she should be allowed regardless of whether she was born a girl or not.
Any argument over “advantages” isn’t really an argument. If a cis-girl practises more than another cis-girl, she has “an advantage”. If a cis-boy weights more than another cis-boy, he has “an advantage” (in some sports).
There are numerous reasons an individual might have “an advantage” over others; we can’t be claiming it’s due to their birth-gender.
Also, let’s not forget, that this article relates to sports in schools and thus any perceived “advantage” based on birth-gender is going to be minimal (if anything) due to the individual’s body having not fully developed into their birth-gender (if at all, depending on when/if they started transitioning or undertaking any hormone therapy). But even if you’ve a 16 yo girl, whose birth-gender was male, and is currently taking zero hormone treatments, any “male” development won’t be so advantageous that a dedicated and hard-working cis-girl couldn’t beat her.
And to any sceptics who try to claim otherwise, the likelihood of individuals “lying” about their gender identity in order to enter sports teams with opposite birth-gender persons, is next to zero. COULD it happen? Yes. Is it likely to? No. School can be a pretty harsh place. I know that if any of the boys in my school said they were a girl (due to genuine trans feelings OR as a lie), they would have been ridiculed and therefore it’s highly unlikely anyone would risk that bullying just “for fun”.
So I say; HRJ53, f**k off and let Trans people be!
James (controversial2019)
Now you, you doth be a real Troll.
People are entitled to their opinions but one should always express it with sensitivity and justification.
Your comment is pure evil.
Max
I’m glad the father realized that he and his wife’s attempt at keeping their child as a boy was making her miserable. their recognition of this makes them parents that are champions of their child’s wellbeing.
Kevan1
@Prax07 P.S. There is no discernible difference between you and a gay basher. Both are cowardly.
Cam
You sound a little TOO into this. Just like rabid homophobes tend to be self hating closet cases, it sounds like you may have some issues with your gender and are lashing out at Trans people to deal with your own confusion.