This Texas mom moved to Oregon to protect her trans daughter. She’s asking you to stand up for trans rights.
Dear Basic Rights Oregon supporters,
In many ways, my family is one of the lucky ones.
I was born and raised in Texas, and I thought I’d live there the rest of my life. But when Texas Governor Greg Abbott directed the Department of Family and Protective Services to investigate the families of transgender children for child abuse last year, my husband and I knew we needed to move.
You see, our daughter is transgender. She’s still young, but we knew that if we stayed in Texas, we could face an impossible choice in a few years: deny her the medical care she needs, or risk having our family torn apart.
So we packed our bags for Portland, Oregon, where we knew our daughter would be respected and protected.
Not every family in our position has the resources to move. And not every trans child has a family as supportive as we are of our daughter.
Those children and families have been weighing on my mind lately, as more and more states follow Texas’s lead this year. State governments across the country are banning gender-affirming care, kicking kids off sports teams with their friends, and making schools unsafe spaces for our kids to be who they are.
In this climate, it’s vital that Oregon remain a steadfast leader in transgender rights. We need Oregon to be a haven for families like mine. And we need to preserve Oregon as a roadmap to the world transgender folks deserve—and as proof that a state can be made stronger, not weaker, by respecting trans folks.
“Take it from me: We all need to be active participants in protecting and expanding transgender rights in our state.”
Basic Rights Oregon plays a crucial role in ensuring transgender people are affirmed and valued in this state. BRO advocates at the state and local level to advance policy that is trans-affirming and pushes back on attempts to otherize or antagonize the trans community.
Take it from me: We all need to be active participants in protecting and expanding transgender rights in our state. As a wave of anti-transgender politics comes crashing ashore in the 2023 legislative session, it will take every single one of us to ensure Oregon isn’t swept up in the wake.
A monthly donation of any amount to Basic Rights Oregon is one of the most effective ways to protect trans rights in our state. Will you commit to making that monthly gift today?
Now is the time to make it clear where you stand. As my family can assure you, there isn’t time to waste.
Thank you,
Karen Krajcer