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Wait, tell me again the whole list of all the things.

-Okay. -What are you gonna be?

-Tell me again. -I'm gonna be a singer,

artist, photographer,

fashion designer.

Mm-hm.

And someone that works in a restaurant.

So I'm gonna be really busy.

Like a chef, you want to cook things?

Yeah, I'm gonna be really busy.

-You are. -You are gonna be busy.

You're gonna be too busy to see us.

Well, I might visit you at some times.

You'll visit us sometime?

You said we could visit you,

like in Paris or in Hawaii or something.

I'm gonna live in Hawaii, so. .

You're gonna live in Hawaii?

Wow, that's cool.

This is my youngest daughter.

Do you like my drawing, Mom?

She's five.

Yeah, I think it's beautiful.

These are her older brother and sister,

and her daddy.

My youngest daughter is a transgender girl.

That means that she was born with a body

that's typically associated with a boy.

Which of course led me and my husband to assume

she was a boy when she was born.

Little Bunny, Biddle Bunny,

time for you to go.

But when she was three, she began to tell us

that she was actually a girl,

and we slowly began to realize

that our assumption about her gender. .

I think I'm gonna be a great everything I wanna do.

might have been wrong.

It was a terrifying time for us.

She just decided she'll be good at everything she does.

I have no doubt.

Sometimes I wonder if he's really red at all.

My husband and I went through the process

of accepting our daughter's true identity

with the help of this man. .

-Hazel. - . Aidan Key.

A transgender man himself,

he's the founder of a support group

for parents of transgender kids.

And while that support group helped us get through

one of the most difficult years of our lives,

we had no idea that the following year

we would be doing something even more difficult:

Fighting for our child's civil rights.

But when we're talking about kids,

transgender is pretty simple.

And this is more in use,

this definition is more in use by families,

by medical and mental health providers,

that transgender more so just means a kid

who might be born female, say, and identifies as a boy.

Before we met, Aidan had been working for years

as a consultant to Washington state schools,

helping them create transgender-inclusive

environments and policies for their students.

After almost 20 years of work

related to transgender people and issues,

there's really something different going on right now.

The question of same-sex marriage has been established

by the highest court in the nation,

and all of those who fought so strongly against it

for their multiple reasons are now left with a, "Now what?"

Now what?

And that despair, that frustration,

that disillusionment,

and the. . what I have to assume is a fierce optimism

that it's not done yet, we're still fighting is now. .

those who fought against it

are now focusing on transgender issues.

True to Aidan's prediction,

by early 2016, news reports of so-called "bathroom bills"

began to surface.

A Republican lawmaker from the Upper Peninsula

wants to make it illegal for transgender students

to use bathrooms or locker rooms

that don't match their birth sex.

A new proposal in Illinois could have separate bathrooms

for transgender high school students.

Because of this unprecedented wave

of anti-transgender legislation,

the Human Rights Campaign issued a report calling 2016

"The Most Dangerous Year for Transgender Americans. "

In our own state of Washington,

a total of six such bathroom bills were introduced

into our state senate and the House of Representatives.

The news of these bathroom bills

stunned every family in our support group.

It's almost unbelievable.

It's 2016.

I don't understand it and it's scary, it is so scary.

There's a lot of people being affected by this stuff.

And at the same time, I have to know

that, you know, love is going to win over fear.

There was also just such a gut level reaction of,

"This is my state. "

Realizing that it was happening in Washington

was really painful because it just felt, you know,

kind of like your own home has been broken into.

Of course, by this point many parents of transgender kids

knew exactly what discrimination

against transgender youth would mean.

This was a matter of life and death.

2015, there was a young trans girl,

Leelah Alcorn that was a young trans girl

who committed suicide.

And her suicide note said something about,

"Please fix the world. "

Then there was just this deluge of families calling us

starting right after the holidays last year.

I think many families just realized that, you know,

their child could die.

You know, it wasn't just a phase or. .

there's interesting things that families come up with

to try to figure out what's going on with their kid.

And they started figuring out, maybe,

that they wanted their child to be alive.

The Washington State Senate is taking up a bill

aimed at overturning the controversial law

that allows transgender people to use the restroom

or even the locker room of the gender they identify with.

This law in question has actually been around

for a decade.

Why is this becoming an issue just now?

Well, that's right, Nadine.

This rule was enacted in December.

However, it's just clarifying some anti-discrimination laws

that have been in effect since 2006.

However, bringing it to light has brought up concerns

that potential sex offenders will abuse that law

to find victims in public bathrooms like these.

Out of the six bathroom bills in our state,

Senate Bill 6443 had the highest chance

of making it to the senate floor for a vote.

This legislation is very simple.

It repeals the rule which is commonly known

as "men in the women's locker room. "

On January 27th, the senate committee in charge of this bill

held a public hearing to hear statements on the issue

from the community.

As a husband and a father, one of my highest duties

is the physical protection of my family.

There will be three groups of men in the women's bathrooms

as a result of this Human Rights Commission ruling.

The first group are those who self-identify,

that there's. . have a mix-up between the identification

of their biology and what they think.

Secondly is a group who are the sexual predators.

Third is the group that I'm composed of,

fathers and brothers and sisters and husbands

that are going to be concerned about the protection

of their own people in those restrooms

who are going to be checking them out.

The HRC mandate opens the door

to pedophiles and to traffickers

in women's restrooms and locker rooms,

which are vulnerable places for women and children.

Because if this policy allowing youth and adult males

to indiscriminately use bathrooms and locker rooms

traditionally set aside for males and females,

does not repeal, these places will become

a feeding ground for sexual offenders.

As an officer of the law, I am sure you're also concerned

about the fact that individuals

who are either children or adults

who are transgender are disproportionately victims

of attack and harassment and physical violence.

And I'm hoping that we can understand

that putting these vulnerable individuals

into a place where they become more vulnerable to attack,

we are doing everybody a disservice.

So how would you protect the individuals

who are probably the most vulnerable in this issue?

You know, having a place that's separate for them,

I know that they may feel discriminated against by that,

but, I mean, in my opinion

it's as simple as which equipment you have.

And if you're a male with male equipment,

then you should use the male restroom.

And if you're a female. .

Because what you're. . these people,

you know, the people that are transgender,

the people that identify as a different male or female

are not necessarily the sex offenders.

But because if you open this up,

if you open up the ability of a sex offender

to go into a restroom claiming that they're somebody else,

then you're opening up that possibility

that they're gonna use that as a way to victimize.

Quick follow-up.

Quick follow-up.

I'm concerned that this sort of separate but equal segregation

is going backwards and not forwards,

so let's think really deeply about that, please.

So we found out that the (unintelligible)

and we were being asked to testify.

All that happened at the same exact time.

It's something that not every parent could have done

because they're trying to make sure that their children

are staying safe and not very public.

And so, one, we were being public.

Two, we were actually looking for, you know,

a way to be able to contribute.

Yes, it was quite scary.

And it was exactly the right place

for us to be at that time.

My name is Ryan Trainer.

I'm the proud father of four beautiful children.

We live in Federal Way.

My wife, Meg, stays at home with our kids

and I work 12-hour shifts as an RN

at Good Samaritan Hospital in Puyallup.

Our daughter was born with a penis,

so we originally thought she was a boy.

As early as two years old, she's been wearing dresses

and asking for long hair and earrings.

When she was four she asked Meg,

"Why did God make me a boy, Mommy,

when I'm really a girl?"

We had no idea what to make of this.

We didn't even know the word "transgender" at that time.

We began to learn of the extremely high rates

of anxiety, depression, and suicide that occur

when these kids are forced to suppress who they are.

Tell me this.

How do I explain to my sweet little girl

when I tuck her in at night that she can't use

the girls' bathroom because people who make our laws

think that there's something wrong with her,

something scary, threatening, and deviant about her?

How do I do that?

This is our child.

Like everyone here, we are doing our best to love her,

to support her, and to keep her safe.

She is deserving of respect and protection,

just like all other children in Washington state.

Please don't take this away from her.

We need to protect our children,

and they do not need to walk in and see

a person of the opposite sex's genitalia.

Having been a victim. . a survivor of sexual abuse myself,

don't need to walk in and get post-traumatic shock.

Has that happened to you before?

Have you been in that situation

in a public facility or a public restroom?

Not in a public facility at this point in time.

You know, it's a safety issue, not just physical safety

but emotional and psychological safety

for women that have been terribly victimized already

through sexual assault or being molested.

Do you know of cases where people have been assaulted

by a sexual predator in a bathroom?

I do know people who have been assaulted.

Right, but a case where there's a bathroom

where a man dresses up as a woman in order to assault. .

I can't say I know of anybody specifically

that has had that happen to them.

People can use this to prey upon the vulnerable,

the disabled, the minor girls.

I feel sorry for people that are transgender.

You know, I'm very sorry for those

who are confused about their gender.

But I think it needs to go with the genitalia,

not what they think they are,

otherwise everyone else is at risk.

Okay.

At risk for?

Possible abuse, whether it's visual or sexual or pedophiles.

Not saying transgenders are. .

After the hearing, the senate committee allowed SB 6443

to progress to the senate floor for a vote.

This vote would be held in February.

I understand that there are people out there

who are being told that allowing transgender individuals

to use the correct bathroom will lead to danger

for themselves or, even worse, for their children.

And that can be a very powerful threat

or a very powerful way to instill fear in people.

But let's be clear.

There's no documented evidence that people who are transgender

are any more likely to be predators

than the general population.

There's no reason to believe that individuals

using the bathroom that fits their gender identity

leads towards any of these sorts of acts,

and so I think it's an attempt to try to broaden the appeal

of this socially conservative measure

by getting people to see a bogeyman

where there simply isn't one.

The senate hearing made one thing very clear.

The level of fear of sexual predators

associated with transgender people

using bathrooms and locker rooms was very high.

I asked Officer James Ritter,

a 36-year veteran with the Washington State Police,

about this perceived threat.

In my 36 years of law enforcement

both in Eastern Washington and in the city of Seattle,

I have never heard of, seen, read about,

or responded to a call involving a transgender person

assaulting anyone in any restroom.

I also have never heard of a non-transgender person

dressing up as a transgender person

for the purpose of going into a public restroom or facility

in an attempt to assault individuals therein.

In fact, in the 225 cities across the nation,

where transgender anti-discrimination protections

had been in place for years,

the crime statistics showed zero evidence

of a systemic increase in predatory crimes

as a result of transgender people using bathrooms

and locker rooms that aligned with their gender identity.

To address the fear that predators could exploit

the anti-discrimination rule,

the Humans Rights Commission released a detailed document

clarifying that it was not legal to enter a public facility

under false pretenses,

that it was legal to call the authorities

or ask a person to leave if they were behaving inappropriately,

and that no business or individual could be penalized

for removing a person who claimed to be transgender

but wasn't.

There's a lot of misinformation

about the Human Rights Commission's action

and the rule that they came out with.

The idea that a man can just one day wake up in the morning

and dress up as a woman and then go and exploit that

in a public restroom is completely false.

And there's been additional guidance

from the attorney general's office,

from the Human Rights Commission

that's been clear that gender identity is more

than just the clothes you put on in the morning.

It's a consistent expression that you hold closely

and that you hold consistently.

And I think that's what is getting lost

in a lot of this conversation.

The foundation for equating lack of safety

with transgender people is where the problem lies.

It's the representation that we've gathered

along the way in life.

The media representations,

movies with transgender characters

have been really negative portrayals,

ugly, ugly portrayals

that indicate things like sexual deviancy

or criminal behavior or criminally insane.

It's portrayed as, in its most benign form,

as something to mock and ridicule,

but also something that's very repulsive.

♪ My only sunshine ♪

♪ You make me happy when skies are gray ♪

♪ You'll never know, dear, how much I love you ♪

♪ Please don't take my sunshine away ♪

♪ The other night, dear, as I lay sleeping ♪♪

On the national level, an anti-transgender bill

called HB2 in North Carolina was making headlines.

It was one of the most sweeping discriminatory bills

in the country that banned civil rights protections

for LGBTQ North Carolinians,

and it was signed into law by the state's Governor McCrory

on the same day that it was passed in the state senate.

Meanwhile, some transgender kids across the country

were beginning to make news of their own

by suing their school districts for the right to use

the bathrooms that aligned with their gender identity.

One of the civil rights attorneys

working on these national cases

spoke with me about some of the arguments

being presented in support of these bathroom bills.

When a state agency or a law

discriminates against a group of people,

you have to have a really good reason for doing it.

It can't just be based on fears that someone who is a criminal

is gonna abuse it or. . you know,

it has to be based on something that's actually a problem.

And so these laws don't. . they don't meet that standard.

You know, one of the things that came up,

not in the context of what happened in Washington,

but in North Carolina around HB2,

Governor McCrory kept on saying,

"We're just bringing it back to common sense

and how we regularly expect and access restrooms. "

And the reality is that we all access restrooms

based on gender identity.

We don't actually access restrooms

based on our birth certificate, based on anatomy,

or based on all these other. .

chromosomes or anything like that.

We go based on gender identity.

And the reality is that doing anything different is, one,

very invasive, right,

can you imagine getting your genitals checked

before you go into a restroom.

No one would ever agree to that.

And also really unworkable.

I mean, how many people would it take

to really supervise that many restrooms.

And so, really, we all access restrooms

based on gender identity,

and we need to, again, really focus on making those spaces

safe for all people

and making sure that people behave appropriately

in those spaces, because regardless

of whether or not a trans person's in there,

people should be behaving appropriately.

I had. . somebody mentioned a. .

I don't know if it's a school that said,

"No, we can't have that book here. "

Do you know about it?

It's about a crayon that accidentally got a red wrapper.

It's a blue crayon.

And how this crayon is trying to say, "But I'm blue. "

While SB 6443 was being debated and considered in the senate,

Aidan was embarking on a new assignment

to create a transgender-inclusive policy

in the Snohomish School District,

where our friend and transgender girl, Ve'Andre,

was a student.

This is me and my brother,

who is very supportive,

like my number one supporter.

There's just some of my. . I have a lot more,

but I didn't bring 'em all.

I had bathroom issues,

like I would stop myself from going to the bathroom

or drinking liquids so I didn't have to go to the bathroom.

I would like people to know that my daughter is not a threat,

that she goes into the bathroom just like everyone else

and uses the bathroom just like anybody else.

And washes her hands and leaves, just like everyone else.

She's not coming in there to hurt anyone.

She's not going in there to make anyone feel uncomfortable.

She just wants to use the bathroom, that's all.

And you're still hanging in there, wow.

Back to backs, I haven't even had a beer yet.

That's wrong.

Look, it's almost five on a Friday.

This is unacceptable.

And we've got six schools

that have transgender students in them,

and, you know, both of our high schools

each have two students.

So we're talking about around eight or nine

transgender families, transgender students.

If I don't walk people through that gender framework first,

we're all over the map.

And there is. . there is an important piece

that comes as a result,

and that is if I have that board and have the ability

to talk about these different categories,

when someone asks a specific question,

I can reference which aspect we're talking about.

Gender identity, defined,

is simply a person's innate sense of their own gender.

This is the key to understanding

the experience of these children.

And that's really helpful,

especially when I say we have to get this out of the context

of some type of sexual orientation,

we've gotta get out of that mindset.

Ultimately, I put this in a different color because this. .

When I'm doing my work in schools,

I want this aspect off the table.

I want those teachers to recognize,

this is what we are not talking about.

This isn't. . being transgender

is not some type of sexual orientation.

People are really confusing the concept of gender

with the concept of sexual orientation.

And it is true that, by and large,

people don't tend to know what kind of person

they're gonna be romantically interested in

until a lot later.

But that's actually a separate process,

as far as we know, from gender.

So gender really comes on quite early,

around age three kids are able to identify their gender,

whereas who you're attracted to romantically

doesn't typically come on until, you know,

late elementary school or even middle school age.

It's about basic things, it's about privacy,

it's about respect, it's about compassion.

All of these things, yeah.

And empathy, yeah.

-It's just. . -Right.

And so, this is just. . and it's about conversation,

it's about relationships.

I don't know why water is clear,

but when people draw it it's blue.

Yeah, it's clear, but people usually draw it blue

because the blue sky reflects on the water

and makes it a bluish color.

Sometimes it's green, sometimes it's gray.

Sometimes it's grayish green like this,

and olive green.

Yep.

Sometimes it's even brownish.

That's true.

Trans women are women too!

They need to pee, just like you!

They need to pee, just like you!

Trans women are women too!

Trans women are women too!

They need to pee, just like you!

They need to pee, just like you!

Trans women are women too!

Trans women are women too!

They need to pee, just like you!

They need to pee, just like you!

I am Huddle, this is my son, Matt.

And I'm Susie, this is my grandson, Matt.

And I'm Neil, and this is my grandson, Matt.

Because my son is transgender

and uses the boys' bathroom at school,

and we wanted to make sure that he can continue

to use the boys' bathroom.

Can I say something?

I don't want to show my genitalia to people.

He was really suicidal for a period of time,

and this is kind of before we knew, really,

that he was a boy.

I would talk with a counselor and say,

"What are we supposed to say to my son. .

well, my daughter at the time,

like, when he's saying all this stuff,

what am I supposed to say?"

"Oh, just tell him that he's confused. "

That went on for about a year and I started feeling

really uncomfortable as a parent.

Like intuitively, that felt really wrong.

Like why am I telling my son it's confusing

when he continually is telling me he's a boy?

And so, finally I went to the counselor and I said,

"You know, this isn't working. "

It was kind of at that point where I realized, you know,

my son has been telling me this for over a year now,

I need to start listening.

He's not having the problem with it,

I'm having the problem hearing it.

Let's see what the Ender Dragon looks like in Halo.

-What? -Wow.

Oh, I can. . I made it.

Oh yeah, I made it in the desert.

I'm gonna put on some armor just because I want to.

Where am I?

To help better explain gender development,

I went to see Dr. Kristina Olson

at the University of Washington.

She was conducting

a groundbreaking longitudinal study

of transgender youth that were accepted

and supported by their families and communities.

Her study was yielding some interesting results.

First of all, it turns out that when we look

at a bunch of socially-supported transgender kids,

they actually look remarkably similar

to other kids who have the same gender identity as them.

In fact, on all the standard measures of gender development

that we've looked at so far,

there has been no measure on which they don't look

exactly like other kids who share their gender.

So that means across all these variety of measures,

whether kids know it's testing gender or not,

we're seeing that the transgender kids really look

like the gender that they say they are.

We looked at a subset of about 70

socially-transitioned transgender kids,

and what we've discovered

is that unlike all the literature

that ever existed before,

these are transgender kids who are doing very, very well.

So they show completely typical rates of anxiety and depression,

the same level as their siblings,

the same level as the controls who are unrelated to them.

And this suggests to us that this often perceived view

that transgender people are definitely going to have anxiety

and depression issues doesn't have to be the case.

What does it mean to you to be a girl?

It means that I could be who I am and be happy.

And that means that I could have fun being who I am.

I had already seen the anguish that my child went through

before her father and I accepted her for who she was.

But I was also learning about that painful experience

from transgender adults who had to survive

nearly a lifetime without support and acceptance.

Sometime between three and four, we begin to know who we are.

And I remember being three years old and lying in bed crying,

wondering how God made this mistake,

because I was told that God didn't make mistakes,

but I knew that I was a girl.

And how could God have done this?

How could I have been put in the wrong body?

I got beaten up from 5th grade till 11th grade.

I actually had to have several different ways

that I walked home from school because bullies would ambush me.

And I lost the fight every single time.

Children who grow up in a supportive environment

and have the support of the medical community

and who have therapy to help deal with the hostility

that we face in the larger world,

grow up to be wonderful. .

I'm sure they'll grow up to be wonderful, happy,

productive human beings.

This is very new and different information

from our society's perspective,

and I can understand it being a bit hard to swallow.

I just think that, you know, God made us male and female,

and we need to honor that.

And I do have compassion for those who are confused and. .

So, given our society's historical thinking

on what makes us male or female,

what information do we have now to help us better understand

the reality of sex and gender development in human beings?

I spoke with Doctors Kevin Hatfield

and Johanna Olson-Kennedy,

both leading experts in healthcare

for transgender youth.

Because we now have recent studies about the brain,

we really are understanding that being transgender

is not related to any type of medical illness

or even mental illness.

We now know that there are places in the brain

that help identify our own personal sense of gender,

and if that area looks one way you would feel feminine,

if it looks another way you might feel masculine.

So it's no different than inheriting brown eye color

or right-handedness or curly hair.

It is one of those things

that just is determined genetically

that you have no choice over.

We have wrapped our heads easily,

as a medical and scientific community,

around the idea that if everything starts

from the sex chromosomes,

there's an expected trajectory

that is the most common trajectory.

So if you have, for example, XY chromosomes,

there's an expectation that you're going to develop

a penis and testicles, male reproductive tract,

and for the most part that does happen.

But we also understand there are trajectories

that go off of that expected trajectory.

What they were referring to

was some of the latest scientific research,

which showed that, first of all,

sex chromosomes don't always come in the XX or XY variety.

There exist other possible combinations,

and sometimes a person may not even know

that their own sex chromosomes don't fall

into one of the more common categories.

As to the development of genitals,

there are also multiple variations in human beings

that do not conform to the most expected versions

of male and female anatomy.

And finally there's gender development in the brain,

which doesn't happen at the same time as genital development.

It happens afterwards.

And what brain scientists are finding

is that rather than just being male and female,

the human brain appears to be more of a so-called mosaic

of maleness and femaleness.

This mosaic varies across individuals

and can occasionally result in a gender identity

that is different from what would be expected

given a person's reproductive anatomy.

The preliminary results look like the brains

of trans adults are hybrid,

so that some parts of it are masculinized,

some parts of it are feminized,

particularly in these areas of the brain

look closer to the gender of identity

than the assigned sex at birth.

The chromosomes can be one thing,

the genitalia can be something else,

and the gender identity can very clearly be different

from both of those things.

I think it is important to understand

that people's gender identity isn't something

that they pull out of the air or that they. .

that's something outside of their body

and their genes and their physicality.

It's there, it's coded,

and most likely that coding lives

in those sections of the brain.

One of these reasons these bills would have been so difficult

and challenging and inappropriate

for our business community and for citizens generally

is that they would have essentially made

business owners or anyone who has some business

or some organization that's open to the public

become gender police,

where they're checking on people's genitals,

where they are maybe requiring a test

that prove what your genetic makeup is somehow,

when we know that that's not actually what defines

someone's gender identity, and when science has told us that.

Despite all the available information

about crime statistics and what it means to be transgender,

support for SB 6443 still seemed high,

and the families from our support group

were very worried it would be passed by the senate.

We continued to contact the senators

and urged them to vote against the bill,

up until the day before the vote.

The rules will be suspended,

Senate Bill 6443 be advanced to third reading,

second reading considered the third

the vote will be placed on final passage.

Not one person has been harmed

because a transgender person used the bathroom.

On February 10th, the only anti-transgender bill

that made it to the Washington State Senate floor

was voted on.

We have to put civil rights first,

we always have as a country.

And then what's disappointing about this is that,

you know, you saw a wave of state-level

Defense of Marriage acts in the '90s,

including in Washington state, and then, you know,

a lot of the people who supported those bills

now have had to come around and say,

"Oh, you know, my thinking on this has evolved. "

So what I've encouraged my friends

who are more conservative to do is take this opportunity

to be on the right side of history

the first time around.

-Darneille. -In the end,

SB 6443 was defeated by just one vote,

with three Republican senators breaking with their party

and voting against the discriminatory bill.

One of those three Republicans was Senator Joe Fain.

Yeah, he was actually pretty good last night,

and my excuse is not for being tardy. .

I opposed it and the bill failed.

It's been a difficult issue to go through,

it's a very charged issue for a lot of people.

And it really comes down to fear.

I have an obligation to stand before

the people that I represent

and explain why I do what I do,

why I vote how I vote, why I think how I think.

And that's why that town hall was so important.

So I listened to the people

that were frustrated, that were fearful,

and I listened to the people that were thankful.

All right, Senator Fain.

Okay, this week in Seattle,

there's a big story, it went national,

about a man who was found in a women's locker room

shower and bathroom at a municipal pool.

Also, you voted against, as the Senate Majority Leader,

Floor Leader,

you voted against a bill that would have put a stop to that,

with only two other Republicans,

and we had two Democrats voting for it.

So do you think you represented your district here

in the best interest of Washington state

with making that vote?

I should add that the police were not called.

So this is the kind of anarchy that you have allowed

to continue in the bathrooms, showers, and locker rooms.

So, I recognize that there are a lot of folks

that are disappointed with that vote the other day.

And I'll just start off. .

So, to start with your first point

about the gentleman that was in Seattle.

What he did two months ago, two months from now is illegal.

It's illegal.

Call the cops.

Get him out of there.

I. . I know that this is a tough issue

and I know there's a lot of fear around this issue,

and I am not trying to be unsympathetic because I know

that it is. . it is a difficult thing.

But, you know, for 10 years now in this state,

since 2006, since the passage

of the Anderson-Murray Non-Discrimination Law,

transgender individuals have had the right

to use the bathroom of their gender identity.

That is. . that is their right.

And I know that there is frustration because I know

a lot of folks have come to me and said, you know,

"How do you think your district would have wanted you to vote?"

You know, there's polling, there's this, there's that.

I love surveying you guys.

I hope that you're all on my email list.

I send out constant surveys,

I want to know what you're thinking.

It really does change my mind on issues.

But on issues of individual rights and personal dignity

and constitutional rights,

I don't put that up for a poll.

I'm gonna vote my principles.

At the meeting, a family came up to me beforehand

to talk about the vote and to talk about the issue

and to share a picture of their daughter.

We had decided to make a little 8. 5 x 11 piece of paper

thank you card.

And it had photos of Brie saying, you know,

we know that this was a decision that you were gonna receive

a lot of backlash for, and we really appreciate you

standing up for human dignity, human rights.

And I will tell you, that was an emotional moment for me.

And he hugged me.

He was crying, I was crying.

He hugged me.

And it was the most amazing moment.

Clearly I knew that it was gonna be a difficult day,

and it meant a lot to have someone that would come up

and make the decision that I made very real.

You do have the right to question someone

who is not where they belong and you do have the right

to call the police and you do have the right

to have that person removed.

Again, for a decade now people have. .

people. . transgender individuals have been living among us,

working among us, and doing exactly what this. .

what this rule says they can do,

and they've been doing it for years

and they've been doing it in 17 states and 200 cities.

But at the end of the day,

I was put before me a bill that I believed was about

the fundamental human right of an individual

and I support those fundamental rights.

A teenage girl should not be seeing a grown man naked

-in a locker room. -That's right.

You want to talk about rights, those are rights.

My right to throw a punch ends at your nose

and their rights for not being discomforted?

Ends when a little girl sees a grown man naked

in a locker room.

We are losing a battle for understanding

when we don't talk to one another.

The people that don't support these rights

for transgender individuals are not bad people.

They don't have the experience, they don't have the people

in their lives that they can relate to,

and we shouldn't in any way. . understand. .

I mean, probably many families who have transgender children

came from that perspective until they started

to face that themselves.

So it's completely understandable

and they should be met with love,

because that's where we actually find the common ground.

This was my youngest daughter before my husband and I

understood that she was a girl.

She was a very bright baby and toddler,

but we could feel that something wasn't right.

She seemed very frustrated with us,

frustrated with life.

By the time she was three she was insisting,

oftentimes through horrible tantrums,

that we allow her to wear dresses.

By the time she was four, she began to tell us

she was really a girl inside.

She was crying herself to sleep nearly every night.

One day when I was driving her to preschool,

she asked me how she was born.

I explained to her that, like all other babies,

she grew in my belly and then she came out.

She then told me that she wanted me to put her back in my belly.

She told me that she wanted me to undo her birth,

that she didn't want to be born anymore.

Then she said, "It's not fair, Mom.

You were born a girl with a girl's body.

My sister was born a girl with a girl's body.

Why was I born this way?"

That was the moment I knew things needed to change.

From that day on, her dad and I

would help her live her life as her true self.

♪ Here I stand in the light of day ♪♪

After that day, our youngest daughter came alive.

She began to experience joy.

♪ This is what you came for, lightning. . ♪

And she never, ever told me again

that she didn't want to be born.

♪ And everybody's watching her

but she's looking at you, ooh, ooh ♪

♪ You, ooh, ooh ♪♪

Oh, my God, I love this park.

-I wanna get one. -Those are pretty.

The defeat of SB 6443 was a huge relief

for transgender Washingtonians, their families, and friends.

But after this victory, an even bigger threat emerged.

My name is Joseph Backholm, I'm with the Family. .

Joseph Backholm was the head

of the Family Policy Institute of Washington,

an organization with a history of anti-LGBTQ rhetoric

and attacks against the rights of gay parents and couples.

His organization led the fight in Washington

against domestic partnerships in 2009

and then against same-sex marriage in 2012.

In his writings, he made his views

of transgender people clear.

He referred to transgender people's gender identity

as a fiction, a fantasy, and a mental illness.

He fought vociferously against schools

accepting and affirming transgender children's

gender identities.

In February, his organization

announced the formation of Just Want Privacy,

a campaign that would launch a ballot initiative

proposing a law similar to other bathroom bills.

If the ballot initiative was successful,

instead of our senators voting on the issue

it would be voted on by the people of Washington state

in our 2016 November election.

Joseph Backholm was the chairman

of the Just Want Privacy campaign.

You know, I'm just. . like, I really am starting

to grapple with some real anxiety around real harm.

For me, that's the scariest part is, you know, like,

I just, you know, "Ellie just run in the bathroom real quick,"

and then all of a sudden she's in a space

where she can't protect herself and she's harmed.

But I also feel like we can't live in fear.

I mean. .

We feel like we need to do something

in order to counteract this initiative

that's being planned.

And so we've been getting together and kind of

brainstorming ideas to how we can do this.

And the, you know, main one is to get out there

and actually share our stories.

We have to be more public, we have to do some, you know,

some writing, maybe, you know,

do some blogs or newspaper editorials

or, you know, just interviews, stuff like that,

and just trying to get as many people as we can

to help us in doing that,

and realizing that our kids are just kids.

Yeah, my big fear is, again, like you said,

I mean, and, you know, they're gonna start

being at the grocery store with their,

"Do you have a moment to sign?"

And this big, "Do you have a moment to sign

to protect the little kids?"

You know, I mean, that's gonna be painful.

That first senate hearing was scary how. .

-what a minority we were. -It was, it was really bad.

And that no one was. . I feel like no one was pointing out. .

I mean, and Aidan was, but, you know, in very limited time,

pointing out like this argument you're posing is ridicu. .

it makes no sense.

When I hear, like, you know,

you're affecting the. . you know,

our point of view is your, you know,

it's gonna put our children at risk.

And coming from that place,

I just. . I guess what I hear or what I worry about is the,

"Well, your child's the minority

and there's not very many of them. "

I think this whole, "You're such a small minority,

why, you know, should we make this change for you," thing,

I still think it comes from

the fundamental lack of knowledge and information.

It still comes from people not really understanding

that these girls are the other girls too,

that these boys are the other boys too.

That it's not a minority

if you think about it as just gender, right?

So, if you say all girls should be safe,

all girls should have access to privacy,

that includes these girls, right?

And I think that whole mindset still comes from

lack of education about what it means to be transgender.

So I'm wondering if, like, can you ever get through

to people unless you actually educate them

in that core way, right?

First get the message across that these girls are girls,

these boys are boys.

They're not making a choice,

they're not trying to be difficult, right,

they're not trying to inconvenience people

just 'cause they feel like doing this, that, or the other.

How do we educate people on that basic fact first?

Well, no matter what anyone says,

"Oh, I have nothing against transgender people,

I'm just worried about the person

that's gonna throw a dress on and walk into the locker room

or the bathroom or whatever. "

No matter what. . how many times they say that,

it has nothing to do with that.

It has absolutely everything to do with being transgender

and that that is sick and wrong.

And you're sick and wrong for doing that to your child.

They're not being honest about their message.

No.

No, but they're being smart about it.

Mm-hm.

So, how. . how do we take care of each other through this?

There is. . I'm gonna go. .

I'm gonna go this way.

You go with Brie.

Okay.

He's on the stairs.

He's on the stairs!

Washington is an initiative state.

We have a lot of ballot measures

on the general election ballots most years,

and that's because our state constitution

guarantees the right of the people to seek to make laws

through the initiative process.

The ballot initiative sponsored by Just Want Privacy

would do two things.

One, it would allow public facilities,

including schools, to bar transgender people

from bathrooms and locker rooms

that align with their gender identity.

And two, it would allow students to sue a school

for $2500 each time they encountered

a transgender student using a bathroom

or locker room based on their gender identity.

The problem with the initiative process

is that people try to play games with it,

and that's exactly what happened in this case.

Just Want Privacy filed six initiatives,

five of them were identically worded.

They admitted that they filed

five identically-worded initiatives

in the hopes that five different attorneys

at the attorney general's office

would give it different ballot titles

and they could choose the language they liked the best.

And thankfully, in this case, it did not work.

The attorney general reviewed the language

and I am assuming recognized that these all do the same thing

and they gave each of the first five initiatives

the same ballot title.

Just Want Privacy was very unhappy

with the attorney general's ballot title

and filed a challenge.

They were trying to argue that the ballot title

should not reflect the impact of the initiative.

On the first hearing, Judge Ann Hirsch

determined the ballot title for the first five initiatives,

which were numbered I-1504 to I-1508.

They were trying to keep out anything in the initiative

that said it would repeal protections

or override protections or that it would result

in student lawsuits against schools.

But typically, we're talking about very small nuances

in ballot titles.

We're talking about state taxes or just taxes

or, you know, very tiny changes.

Never have I seen language that talks about, you know,

repeal protections against discrimination.

And that is pretty heavy rhetorical language.

Well, it is repealing regulations, is it not?

It is taking away the regulation that. .

Instead, they wanted to suggest

that the initiative's ballot title

should focus on claiming that this initiative

would restore or allow facilities in Washington

to maintain gender-specific facilities

like bathrooms.

That would be misleading because Washington law

always has and continues to allow facilities

to have men's rooms and women's rooms.

Nothing has changed in that regard.

Yes, the problem is we're repealing protections

against gender identity discrimination.

And as soon as you say, "We are getting rid

of protections against discrimination,"

that is. . tends to cause bias in the reader.

But that's what it does.

Well, the voters are going to decide,

essentially, whether that's discrimination or not.

Well, the initiative, if passed,

would repeal the current protections.

Judge Hirsch rejected all of the arguments

offered by Just Want Privacy.

The sponsor is also concerned that the language

proposed by the state is loaded language,

highly prejudicial according to the sponsor,

and the language specifically being the term

"gender-segregated. "

It's my view that it's not prejudicial,

it's a statement of fact,

it encompasses the language that's currently used,

and I don't believe it has, necessarily,

the connotation that the sponsors are asserting.

After the judge concluded their hearing on the first measure,

I was sitting next to Joseph Backholm

and he turned to me, shook my hand,

and said, "See you next week. "

And so we knew at that point they would be trying

to get a different ballot title for I-1515.

The solicitor general and PFLAG's arguments

are all about this initiative would undo,

would repeal, would override, would take away.

And our proposed title says this initiative

would allow the following.

The court is prepared to issue its ruling at this time

regarding the challenge to the ballot title of Initiative 1515.

The court is not making any changes to the language

proposed by the solicitor general.

Ew!

It's ridiculous to assume that everybody has the same body

or similar body parts.

So, you know, women that have had mastectomies

or men that have had testicular cancer

and had to have some things removed,

what is the criteria?

What do you need to have to enter into

a men's or a women's bathroom?

It's not gonna fit for everyone.

So all you can do is ask somebody what their gender is.

That actually seems like the right thing to do

is just let somebody use the bathroom

that they identify with.

Because there's no way to tell anyway based on body parts.

People sometimes question whether. .

why focus on such a small area as bathrooms?

Why not just. . I don't know what they. .

what they think the solution might be.

I know that in schools it's like,

"Oh, have that transgender kid just use the nurse's bathroom,

the staff bathroom. "

But, in some respects, it represents the absolute ability

to be an authentic person in the world,

to exist. . to exist, I mean, really simply.

If someone says, "You can't use the men's bathroom

or you can't use the women's bathroom

because you're not woman enough or you're not man enough,"

what they're ultimately saying is you're not human enough.

And whether they realize that or not,

that's the impact.

And I have known adults all the way down to little children

who stop using the bathroom because of this pushback.

The impact is really difficult to describe

to someone who doesn't experience it,

but we. . we need to. . we need to relieve ourselves.

It's. . it's almost akin to saying,

"You don't have a right to breathe in this space.

You don't have a right to speak in this other space. "

Where you rest your head at night.

Harkening back to the separate but equal argument, too,

when you look at that argument of 50 years ago,

which virtually every American finds it outrageous now,

it's the same arguments being used now

against transgender people.

It is the very same arguments that there are. .

there's danger to others

if you. . if you let. . allow transgender people

to use locker rooms,

that they are somehow so different

and will pervert our whole society.

Those arguments were used 50, 60 years ago

around separate but equal schools and bathrooms

and drinking fountains.

And it's only when we start to see those arguments

being repeated again and again and again

that we realize that these aren't actually valid arguments,

they're actually part of a whole discriminatory history

that is attempting to be engaged again

against transgender people.

I think it's really important that we hear more

and that people are active and engaged

and grow the coalition of people

who believe in a tolerant Washington,

who believe in an inclusive Washington,

and who are willing to set the record straight

on some of these misleading statements.

And that's gonna mean cisgender allies,

it's gonna mean other allies from the LGBT community,

it's gonna mean many of us

from the disability community or communities of color

who've experienced discrimination ourselves

stepping up and being a part of that coalition.

The Washington Won't Discriminate campaign

launched in April.

It consisted of a coalition of more than 500 businesses,

labor unions, faith organizations,

and safety groups.

Its goal was to inform the public about the dangers

of repealing Washington's anti-discrimination law

and to urge people to decline to sign

the I-1515 ballot measure petition.

The Washington that I love and call home

is a place where all hardworking people are treated

with dignity and respect, and have a fair opportunity

to provide for their families

and take responsibility for their lives.

I have to tell you, as a Christian,

I believe in loving our neighbors as ourselves.

You know, that we treat other people

the way we want to be treated.

As the father of five and grandfather of five children,

and being a retired state trooper

and former county sheriff,

nothing is more important to me

than keeping my family and our community safe.

It's important to remember that indecent exposure,

voyeurism, and sexual assault are already illegal

and that police officers use existing laws

to keep us safe and hold offenders accountable.

The facts show that we can protect our communities

and work to prevent crime while also protecting

our law-abiding individuals from discrimination

in public places, including the bathroom.

I've devoted my career to preventing sexual violence

in our community, and I take that very seriously.

Every time we hear of someone who speaks

of their assault or abuse, we feel their pain.

The safety fears that many of us have,

especially those who are survivors,

are not baseless or irrational, nor should they be dismissed.

However, discriminating against transgender people

does nothing to decrease the risk of sexual assault.

What are some of the best ways to talk about I-1515

and what it does?

As for our small group of families,

we began the process of going public with our stories.

We attended media trainings,

we told our stories to local TV news crews. .

Ryan Takeo introduces us to a local family

trying to navigate through some pretty tough obstacles.

We assumed at the time that he was a girl and Esther.

to local magazines. .

How do you know you're doing the right thing?

- . and radio stations. -'Cause I see my child living.

We spoke in churches.

So in September 2015, when Brody was four and a half,

as I tucked him into bed, he said to me,

"Mommy, why did God make me a boy when I am really a girl?"

All I could say was, "Shoot, where's my husband?"

We were asked to share our story,

the story of a well-supported transgender child.

Walking through the hallways and sitting in the hearing room

knowing that a vast majority of the people in the room

were likely to discount what I had to say

before the words even left my mouth,

I kept reminding myself that my little girl

deserves basic human rights and protections.

And anything else is plainly discrimination.

So I very consciously stayed grounded in a place of love.

I was very proud to have my words be heard

at such a pivotal point in our state's history.

We are on the right side of history.

Excuse me.

Not surprisingly, most of the reactions

to our stories in the media

were filled with misconceptions and vicious attacks.

So scary, so frightening, you know, to be judged for that

after we did the PBS special.

People are making comments about, you know, that mom

should be locked away and. .

And I don't mind that, I worry more for Skyler,

and so I had gone to Aidan and said, you know,

"Are we doing the right thing?

I feel so powerfully that people need to see stories like this,

to see, to hopefully be taught. "

And he said, "What a powerful gift that is to give your child

to teach them that they should be proud of who they are

and that they can make a difference. "

Meanwhile, the Just Want Privacy campaign was hitting the streets

with their signature-gathering effort

and were reporting to have gathered 50,000 signatures

within the first two weeks.

Their leader, Joseph Backholm,

was busy on the local press circuit arguing their case.

Should you be allowed to use a restroom

based on the sex you were born with

or your gender identity?

He is the Chair of the Just Want Privacy group,

which supports I-1515, good to see you.

It would not be appropriate for me to go

into the girls' locker room at 24 Hour Fitness after work.

However, if I express or identify as female,

the owner of 24 Hour Fitness

could face legal liability from me

if they sought to intervene and prevent me from going there,

and that's the big giant loophole

problem that this creates.

Washington State has over 200,000

registered sex offenders, and that pathology

has them always looking for victims.

And what this rule did is it creates a welcome mat

where people now know they have a legal right to be present

in a girls' locker room and do things like just watch

and expose themselves that on the sidewalk

would be criminal activity.

The problem with that argument

was that Washington State law did not allow such a scenario

and it had already been clarified

that businesses could not be held liable

if they prevented a person from entering a locker room

under false pretenses.

Yeah, I think there are lots of aspects

of this argument that fail.

First and foremost is that that kind of behavior

of a man going into a women's restroom

is already prohibited by the law.

The conservatives look at it as taking or allowing men

to dress up as women to sort of exploit that,

but in reality, when you think about it,

by forcing trans people to use the restroom

consistent with their sex assigned at birth

actually creates a greater risk in the sense that trans men

will be using women's restrooms,

so women will become used to the idea

of seeing men in the restroom.

And so, in fact, if a man wanted to do this,

they would just go into the restroom as is,

and I think we need to really take a step back

and talk about let's make sure that all restrooms are safe,

right, for not only women but also boys as well.

When you look at statistics around sexual assault,

in fact, happens more often

between people who know each other

and typically there's an age difference as well.

So this fear doesn't actually pan out.

The idea that the federal government

would stop educating children

unless we force high school girls

to shower in the presence of high school boys

is something that I think is offensive.

What we don't do is change the curriculum

for the entire school to address the needs

of one particular child.

What do you think your life would be like

if you weren't allowed to use the bathroom

with the rest of the girls at school?

It wouldn't. . it wouldn't be good for me.

'Cause people who don't know what transgender is

and don't know why. . that I'm transgender

'cause they don't know what transgender is

when I'm going inside the bathroom with a dress,

they'll say, "Why is a girl

going inside the boys' bathroom?"

and they'll probably laugh.

Although I-1515 threatened to derail their efforts,

Aidan, Scott, and Justin forged ahead leading discussions

and workshops to develop the trans-inclusive policy

for the Snohomish School District.

This space tonight is about sharing what you think

and asking questions, because it's that conversation

that helps us to really be clear about what's important to us.

I have yet to meet a transgender kid

who had a lot of body confidence in that way

that they might just disrobe and walk around.

I mean, how many high school kids do, anyway?

I suppose there's some.

But the transgender kids are not those kids.

Sometimes they opt out of PE altogether

or that kind of thing.

Hi, everyone, I'm Sarah,

and I am the mother of two children.

One is in sixth grade and her name is Ve',

and I have a fifth grade son, his name is Val.

And Ve' is my daughter, she's trans,

and my son is cisgender.

We're just a regular family in the Snohomish School District.

I want the same thing for my kids

that everybody else wants.

I want my kids to be happy, included, safe.

I want them to have the opportunity

to have a good education.

What are we doing to make sure that everybody is safe

and that if there is an issue with somebody who wants to. .

who understands they are female but they have male anatomy

needs to take a shower during sports

or wants to play on the boys' side

or wants to play on the girls' side,

what is the school and the district doing

with funding and processes to either protect those students

and the other students?

We can all agree that whether you're a parent

of a transgender student or a transgender student

or a cisgender student,

they don't wanna get naked in front of each other.

So how can we go back and create spaces

for people to have that privacy?

So that's what we're doing as a district right now.

It goes back to what does privacy look like for every kid?

How do we respect what kids need at all levels?

The most persistent, maybe sometimes the only question

is, doesn't your policy, doesn't this law or whatever,

allow that a teenage boy gets to walk into school today

and say, "Hey, I'm a girl today,"

and march into the girls' locker room

or the girls' bathroom or wherever

and there's nothing that can be done about it?

And we've answered it because everybody asks,

and we keep coming back to the same answer.

The thing that we've said every single time is, "No. "

If a boy comes up and says, "I'm a girl today

and I wanna go in the locker room,"

we're gonna say, "Wait a minute.

If you really think you're a girl,

we're gonna take the time and we're gonna talk with you,

we're gonna sit down with a counselor, administrator,

parents, whomever, have a conversation

about what that means to you.

How do we support you in that process?

What is it you really want here?

If that student ultimately gets access to the locker room,

it may be weeks down the road.

We don't. . I don't know, but there will be a time

to have a conversation that's very deliberative

about what it all means.

It's as if, in education, we've never dealt with students

trying to pull a stunt before.

As if we can't authentically sort out. .

Sort through that, exactly.

Who saw me in the shower?

It was a man not a woman.

It was a man, and guess what?

Those same men that you're trying to avoid

can now follow you into the bathroom

and be legally protected.

Absolutely can.

In June, Just Want Privacy hosted a public event

and press conference

at the University of Washington in Tacoma.

Its description promised a conversation

with progressive female leaders of national influence

who would talk about safe spaces for women

particularly in showers and bathrooms.

To compare trans women to sexual assault?

That is bullshit!

-Shame on you! -Shame!

Shame!

In order to go forward here, in order to go forward. .

Enjoy your hate rally!

-Trans women are women! -Trans women are women!

It's discriminatory when trans women

think that their rights supersede everybody else's.

What I'm hearing from trans allies and advocates

is that the safety of trans people is paramount

to the safety of everybody else.

That's discriminatory.

It's discriminatory.

There are bathroom bills circulating

-all across the country. -And they're terrible.

-And they vary. -And they're all wrong!

And the question is how do we. .

I'm not saying that they're right.

Answer his question!

-I have said that their. . -What incident. .

What do you mean "what incident"?

What incident are you talking about?

Where a trans person violated a woman in a bathroom!

-What incidents. . -None! Zero!

Let me just say. . I'm not gonna argue with you about statistics.

Well, you are arguing because you're making false claims!

-That's an argument! -Not at all.

What I'm saying is that there's violence. .

Your arguments are all based on false premises.

There has to be safe spaces for everyone.

That means. . that means that a high school girl

can go into the shower and not be afraid or worried

or surprised by a male body coming in and watching her.

So, what I'm gonna. . I'm gonna keep speaking here.

And that right there is the final rub, isn't it?

The final argument for discrimination

against transgender people.

Transgender women, really, if we wanna be honest about it.

The argument that transgender people are insane

won't hold up in the long run because they're just as sane

as the rest of the human population.

The argument that they're dangerous won't hold up either

because they're no more dangerous

than the rest of the human population.

The argument that predatory crimes will rise

when trans people use public facilities

according to their gender identity won't hold up

because there's no evidence that this is actually the case.

Therefore, we're left with the argument

that trans children and adults

should be segregated from their peers

because someone may be afraid

or worried or surprised by their presence.

But is this a fair criterion by which we grant

or take away civil rights in our society?

Are we a society that punishes innocent people,

isolates them, and exposes them to real harm

all because their physical appearance

may make someone uncomfortable?

I feel like the basic argument being put forth

is that because you have a certain body type,

you as a transgender person, you as a transgender child,

you have a certain body type

that doesn't fit with how I order the world,

that, yeah, we really wanna restrict your civil rights.

That's a strange argument.

We have. . we have many situations

in which people's bodies are different.

There are people with weight differences,

there are people who have lost a limb,

someone in a wheelchair, a quadriplegic.

It's an incredible thing to say, "You, who you are

and how your body is, which you have no control over,

is. . makes me uncomfortable,

so please get this out of my sight. "

We've done that in the past for other reasons

and we have since discovered

that that's not a very good reason.

You know, this last year,

we celebrated the 25th anniversary

of the Americans with Disabilities Act,

and when the ADA was passed, there were a number

of measures in it that made people really uncomfortable,

and there are a lot of things about people with disabilities

that can make the general population

uncomfortable from time to time.

At the end of the day,

I don't think there's a single legislator in Washington State,

Democrat or Republican, who would turn back

the hands of time and undo the ADA.

And the reason for that is that while there is a civil right

to be included in this society, there's not a civil right

to being comfortable all of the time,

and I think it's important to understand that,

and I don't mean to invalidate the feelings or fears

of individuals who are just now learning about

what it means to be transgender.

I understand that and I understand that,

for many of them, this may all be happening very quickly,

but what's important to know is that, in this country,

when we've gotten it right, which we eventually do,

we've done so by telling people, "You know what,

this may make you a little uncomfortable at first.

It may make you a little uncomfortable

to have someone of a different race

going to school with your child.

It may make you a little uncomfortable

to have women in the same types

of positions and jobs that you have,

and it may make you uncomfortable

to have someone who's blind bring their service animal

onto the airplane or into a restaurant with them,

but at the end of the day,

you'll learn to become comfortable as we all will,

but what we need to put first and foremost

is the right of every individual to enjoy life, liberty,

and the pursuit of happiness as was promised

at the very founding of this country.

Just Want Privacy was reportedly

making progress gathering signatures.

The last reported count

was nearly 150,000 signatures gathered.

It was late June and our family

was at a local strawberry festival.

It was a gorgeous day.

It's not going as slow as you expected it to go.

My husband spotted them first.

He gave me a kiss goodbye and quickly took the kids

back to the car to take them home.

Watching all those everyday people

signing away my daughter's basic civil and human rights

made it very difficult for me not to feel real anger,

hatred even, towards them.

for a small percentage of people. .

Yeah, they're people just like you.

They're people just like you're an immigrant,

they're people that shouldn't be discriminated against.

You as an immigrant don't wanna be discriminated against.

It's really easy to form an opinion about something

when it's not in your family,

and it's hard to not get enraged at that short-sightedness,

but here's what I think:

The majority of those people,

I believe this firmly, are good people.

That they have good hearts,

they have children that they love.

This issue hasn't touched their family.

If it were to touch their family,

they would be in a significant amount of turmoil.

If I view those people

as something other than good people,

it will eat me up.

It will. . it will blacken my soul and my heart,

and I don't want that.

I don't wanna be that kind of person,

I don't wanna live that way.

At the final Snohomish School District board meeting,

the board was going to vote on whether or not to adopt

the trans-inclusive policy, knowing full well

that if the ballot initiative passed,

their district policy would be in direct conflict

with Washington State law.

So we're here tonight to give you kind of an update,

a summary of where we are

concerning the transgender policy 3213

that you're gonna be considering tonight.

Gender identity laws are a trend

that is steamrolling people like me.

With this trend, should I tell my 16-year-old daughter

to expect unclothed boys

in her school sports locker and bathrooms?

This is endangerment.

And common sense reminds us that laws allowing people

to use the bathroom of choice

also flash a green light to sexual predators.

Transgender students and really all students,

they want nothing more than to fit in to the daily routine

of being seen, valued, respected, and treated

as the learning, growing human beings that they are.

I'm not trying to harm anybody in any way,

I'm not trying to be pervertive

or harass people in any way.

A transsexual's very presence as an anatomical opposite

constitutes an assault in and of itself.

This is an issue that is similar to other fights

for equality and respect, equity and justice.

Black people were kept in separate facilities

and restrooms and dining areas for safety concerns.

Now I think most people would see the ignorance in that.

This is no different.

When we attempt to conform reality to our delusions,

then confusion is the only sure result.

Since children are not fully developed

emotionally or intellectually, and educators should know this,

they cannot choose to identify themselves

as anything other than their birth gender.

Any fantasy or virtual pretense of the child

has no basis in reality

and results in confusion for the child

and wasted resources for the school district and parents.

I don't want a parent to have the experience that I had

of being woken up in the middle of the night

because my child had attempted suicide.

I don't want any parent

to be awoken in the middle of the night

because their child had attempted suicide

simply because they didn't feel the opportunity

to live their true selves in their community.

Okay, is there a motion for the approval of policy 3213?

-(unintelligible) -Seconded.

It's been moved in second,

Is there any discussion?

All those in favor, signify by saying "Aye. "

-Aye. -Aye.

All opposed, same sign, motion passes.

You guys are excused if you wanna leave.

The vote in favor of adopting

the transgender-inclusive policy was unanimous.

At the heart of the policy was the promise

that transgender students would be able to use bathrooms

and locker rooms that aligned with their gender identity

just like all students.

And they would not be forcibly segregated

from their peers when doing so.

The I-1515 signature deadline

was now only a couple of weeks away.

As this deadline was fast approaching,

I thought about the friends we had made over the past year,

friends who had become part of our extended family.

We were hearing reports that Just Want Privacy

was getting close to their signature-gathering goal.

We had fought as hard as we could

and, at this point, all we could do was wait.

I had my fears, I was really scared.

Like, at home, Ve' would wanna wear a tutu

as soon as we got home, I mean,

it had to be for like a year straight,

Ve' wanted to put this tutu on.

You should've seen this tutu by the end of the year.

Because, I mean, even if I tried to hide it

because I was just sick of her wearing it,

she would hunt that thing down and put it on.

The first time that I made a point of saying,

"Oh, you're such a great son,"

or "Luke's so lucky to have you as a big brother,"

and the joy that lit his face,

I mean, it was just like nothing I've ever seen.

I mean, you could just see shoulders straighten

and this smile, and not just a smile,

but a smile that was just lit from within.

Taking her shopping for the first time for girl clothes,

oh, my gosh, like it was just. .

she was so alive.

There was nothing else I was gonna do.

I was gonna support my child 100 percent.

He's finally himself and there's just. .

it's a light and it's hard to explain,

but it's just this light that's coming from him.

And he's even told me recently,

"Mom, I'm so glad to be alive. "

He would never have said that a year ago.

He used to say to me, "Mom, life's too hard.

I don't wanna be here anymore," and he's said to me,

he's looked outside and been like,

"Mom, the world is so awesome, I'm so happy to be alive. "

That's worth everything.

this one and it's a little bit smaller than this part.

Yeesh

If I did this one bigger than this. .

And as we all braced ourselves for finding out

whether or not our children's civil rights

would be put up for a vote,

I realized something important.

I realized that this struggle we were all a part of,

this so-called "culture war,"

we had already won it before it even began.

We won the moment we made the decision

to accept our children for exactly who they were.

Because that was the moment we began to fulfill

our most important job as parents,

the job of empowering our children

with the ability to love themselves.

For that kind of love

will always overcome ignorance, fear, hate.

That kind of love beats everything.

Backers of the ballot initiative

to restrict which bathrooms transgender people can use

have told Washington State officials

they will not be turning in signatures by today's deadline.