I defended your rights in Iraq. Now it’s time for SC to stand up for my transgender son’s rights. | Opinion
I joined the military after the violent attacks that were inflicted on our country on 9/11. While in combat during Operation Iraqi Freedom, I never lost sight of why I was there: to defend the freedoms we hold dear. Never in my wildest dreams did I imagine my next fight would be against my own government as it takes steps to deprive me of my parental rights and my child’s ability to live the American Dream of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.
My child is transgender. You may not know exactly what that means. I didn’t completely understand myself, but it also wasn’t surprising to my wife and I because he never had a particularly feminine energy. My child never enjoyed wearing dresses. When playing make-believe they always chose the role of King or Father or other male roles. He brought so many frogs into the house that for years after we’d find little skeletons from where they’d escaped him.
Prior to our son at age 9 telling us that they were transgender and that they wanted to live in and be seen by the world as a boy, we could tell that something was going on. We watched our child, who was normally the life of the party and the relational center of our home, disconnect from the family and struggle to get out of bed.
After our son told us that he was transgender and we confirmed our love and acceptance, we’ve watched him slowly return to being himself. He is energetic, smiles again, and is back to being as gregarious as he ever was. When he recently cut off all of his hair, I’ve never seen him have a bigger smile or seem more confident about his physical appearance.
He is an amazing artist, he enjoys sailing and attends sailing camp each summer, he plays the guitar, and recently we’ve been going to the shooting range as I’ve started to teach him how to safely function and maintain firearms. He’s an incredibly bright child who started speaking in full sentences at six-months old. He has a courageous spirit and an empathetic demeanor.
He’s also very protective of his siblings, helping them when they cook, giving them the best advice and indulging their endless questions long after our patience has worn thin. If you met him, you’d never know he was transgender. He just looks and acts like any other teenage boy you’d pass on the street.
But my son isn’t able to be worried about normal teenage things right now. My son has spent his two years of high school worried about whether South Carolina lawmakers were going to take away his therapist, his doctor and the other medical care that helps him live fully as himself.
He worries about being seen as human, about other transgender kids in our local communities and about his safety using the bathroom in the correct place while presenting as masculine.
The recently-approved legislation that is on the governor’s desk — House Bill 4624 — and the terrible things that people are saying about transgender people are causing him great anxiety. Meanwhile, his mother and I feel like our government is failing him as we try desperately to protect him. We are fighting for our child’s life and so far we’re losing.
I’m so angry. I feel like our legislators have failed to listen to their constituents, the courts, doctors, mental health professionals, teachers and dozens of others who spoke in front of the S.C. House and Senate subcommittees.
And while this may be my kid, I’m not alone in viewing this legislation as a massive government overreach. In a recent poll by Mason-Dixon Polling & Strategy, 71% of 625 South Carolinians surveyed agreed that decisions about a transgender child’s healthcare should be made by their parents in coordination with their doctor, not by the government.
There are real problems that our lawmakers could be solving, but instead they are picking on my kid and the other .07% of the population of South Carolina that is transgender.
Recently several Republicans have stood up for true conservative principles and have opposed similar bills on the grounds that they are a massive government overreach into the private lives of families and parents. I am asking Gov. Henry McMaster to do the same. Defend my family’s freedoms — just like I defended yours.
Eric Childs is a father of four who lives in Anderson County, S.C.
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Editor’s note: For another view on this bill, please read this commentary by Sen. Danny Verdin.
