In a GoFundMe post created four days ago, Harris Dault asked for funds to aid in moving expenses as she and her husband look for new jobs. The fundraiser surpassed its $4,000 goal by more than $800 on Friday.
The Harris Dault family’s move reflects a larger, nationwide migration of trans individuals who are relocating from their home states to areas in which they feel supported.
With 48 anti-LGBTQ+ bills circulating within its legislature, Missouri is second only to Texas in the number of proposed bills targeting trans individuals, according to the American Civil Liberties Union. In the last couple months, Missouri lawmakers passed bills banning gender-affirming care for minors and barring transgender athletes from participating on school sports teams that align with their gender identity.
Harris Dault recalls the discussion when she and her husband explained to their daughter in simple terms what these bills meant for her. While her daughter does not fully understand the implications of the bills, she wants to play sports, and it has been “really hard” for her to not participate, Harris Dault said.
“These are really the first people that have had a problem with who she is,” Harris Dault said. “Her school has accepted her. We’ve accepted her. Everyone in her life loves her for who she is, and then these people that she hasn’t met are making rules saying that she can’t participate in ordinary kid stuff.”
In the U.S., trans and nonbinary youth experience high rates of depression, anxiety and suicide, according to a Trevor Project study from December. Gender-affirming care hugely reduces depression and suicide risk among these youths, according to a 2022 study published in JAMA.
Following the GoFundMe post, Harris Dault has received many messages from people in states such as Texas and Florida who are also planning to move.
“Everyone is talking about, ‘At what point do we go?’” she said. “It’s a scary time in the trans community.”
Harris Dault described the response to the GoFundMe as “overwhelming,” noting the quantity of positive and negative feedback she received. Most notably, she felt “amazed” that most of the donations came from strangers.
“That has been just shocking to see just how many people are supporting [us] when they don’t actually know our family,” Harris Dault said.
Simultaneously, Harris Dault has also received numerous messages accusing her of forcing her child to get surgery with the donations, she said.
“It’s always hard to get messages continuing to call you a child abuser and a groomer and a pedophile, all for following every major medical and psychological association in the United States’ best care practices,” Harris Dault said. “All we’ve done is follow the advice of our pediatrician. … [The criticism] is not new, but it always hurts.”
As an outspoken advocate of LGBTQ+ rights, Harris Dault hopes the public sees the humanity of trans individuals and families.
“We need people to see what our families really look like,” she said. “My eight-year-old is just a kid. She loves playing with her friends. She does all the typical kid things.”
While she recognizes that the critiques of strangers do not matter, Harris Dault also described how the backlash her family receives is materializing into the very law forcing her family to move.
“We don’t want to leave,” she said. “This is our home, this is our community. We love St. Louis, and we feel perfectly safe in St. Louis. … If it wasn’t for the state legislature, we would be staying here, and this would continue to be our home.”
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