
David Fuller had a lot of questions when his daughter came out as trans, but there was one thing he didn’t have to question — ensuring his daughter got the support she needed to thrive.
Alabama lawmakers are trying to make gender-affirming care a felony. We can’t allow that.
Transcript provided by YouTube (unedited)
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i’m a single widowed dad with a
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transgender daughter all of a sudden in
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alabama
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and i am just lost
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[Music]
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i’m just a middle-aged white guy who
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loves to watch a football game
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with a steak and cheese sub and a beer
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on a saturday afternoon
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i love my family i love my kids
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we love to travel love to travel that’s
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probably our thing that we do the most
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he’s my dad i love him
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we just enjoy each other’s company
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that’s just how family and good
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relationships work
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when just first came out that was
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something i had no
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idea was coming i had no
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knowledge of what being transgender
0:43
meant absolutely none
0:45
i’ve been a police officer for like you
0:47
know 20 something years been a detective
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for a long time
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that was really helpful when
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this all happened because i knew how to
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investigate
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i started looking stuff up on the
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computer i started digging up
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information
1:00
yeah one of the first things i found out
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was that a lot of the transgender kids
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when they come out
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end up
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self-harming themselves or even trying
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to kill themselves i felt really
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powerless
1:15
i went through
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a week of just
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like my insides would just come apart
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completely just terrified you know i’d
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lost her mom and
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i was afraid now i was going to lose her
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my wife passed away february 25th 2014.
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kids were still in middle school at the
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time
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i started digging deeper the more
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research i did the more i found out
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suicide rates for transgender kids drops
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dramatically if they just have the
1:40
support of their families i was able to
1:42
collect myself and go okay
1:44
i’ve got a dog in this fight now there’s
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something i personally can do beyond
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saying yeah i love you having a
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supportive parent means everything they
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always know what he’s doing and i’m sure
1:53
he was freaking out
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out more than i was most days but
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just be being there being supportive
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asking okay what what’s next
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i’ve made sure that i’ve been directly
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with her every every step of the way on
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this i’ve been physically with her
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whether it’s a doctor a therapist a
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you know a majesty acceptance center a
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get together anything at all i was with
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her so she knew she was never alone
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that first year was tough but
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the doctors at uab really really changed
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everything felt like oh here’s people
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that understand us that have dealt with
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other people like us that
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know how to help us that are friendly
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that are loving that truly made us feel
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like they care about us from the first
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day to have that help was really just
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what god said
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lawmakers want to criminalize the care
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that my daughter needs
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[Music]
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they’re trying to legislate to make
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these people felons for treating kids
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like my daughter
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i would actually have to arrest the
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people
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that
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saved my daughter’s life
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these bills gonna keep coming back up
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it’s a minority you know
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group of people in this state but
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they’re our kids and we love them that’s
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the joke
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when they file these
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these bills they follow under these
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ludicrous names like you know the
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protecting our kids act and garbage like
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that when they don’t even know the kids
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they don’t care about the kids do you
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not see these people or human beings do
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not see that i’m a human being you’re
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just pretending like we’re going to go
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away just on a snap of a finger one law
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one law can’t make me go away i’m a
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person the only way you make me go away
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is that if i die and i think you want
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that but
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let us take care of our kids the way we
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know how
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yes this is a unique situation to be in
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a transgender family i know five six
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years ago
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i had no idea what that would have meant
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i do now so trust me
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trust the people i put trust in in my
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health care group
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trust the therapist trust the people
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that are in the middle of it
4:01
stop trying to pass these silly bills
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[Music]
4:25
you
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This post was previously published on YouTube.
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Photo credit: Shutterstock
White Fragility: Talking to White People About Racism
Escape the “Act Like a Man” Box
The Lack of Gentle Platonic Touch in Men’s Lives is a Killer
