Mother Jones illustration; Getty
Five years ago Minna Zelch and her then-15-year-old daughter, a transgender student, were elated when the state of Ohio granted her permission to play on her high school softball team. Just weeks later, legislation banning transgender athletes from participating in school sports was introduced in the statehouse. As the only transgender athlete who fit this category, Zelch says, her daughter overnight, “became the face of trans athletes in Ohio.” Now a 20-year-old college student out of state, her daughter, “spent more time her senior year of high school testifying at the state house than she did visiting colleges.” With the barrage of anti-trans legislation passed last year, her experience in Ohio foreshadowed the grim reality that young trans people and their families all over the country are experiencing as the Trump administration passes one executive order after another attacking trans rights.
Her story has been edited and condensed for clarity.
It’s just gotten steadily worse. Now we have an entire party whose members have basically said they want to eradicate a certain group of people. That’s beyond terrifying when your child is part of that group.
The main thing is to get your documents in order. And fortunately, for our daughter, as soon as soon as she turned 18, we had all the paperwork ready to go for everything. Her license was changed, her passport was changed, and so was her birth certificate.
We’re sending her back to college with her passport, in case she has to make a quick escape. I’ve talked to people about recommendations for immigration lawyers. Part of our fear is that her name is out there. She was actually doxxed at school last spring. If there’s a list, we’re on it. She does lots of things to be safe. She stays in groups, she doesn’t use public restrooms by herself. She finds places where she feels nobody here is gonna take her into the alley and beat her up. And she is fortunate. I hate to use this term, but she passes pretty well. If you didn’t know, you probably wouldn’t know. It’s still terrifying. People could easily find her, even though we’ve done as many things that we can to try and keep her identity somewhat secret.
I asked my daughter what she was worried most about the Trump administration. Her biggest fear is that, and I quote, “My identity will not be no longer be recognized, and that according to the government, trans people will cease to exist.”
“My identity will not be no longer be recognized, and that according to the government, trans people will cease to exist.”
Her safety is of the utmost importance to me and her father. Physical safety is obviously a big component, but also her mental health and emotional well-being. She’s been out of Ohio for a year and a half, and I’m just now understanding how much she was impacted by all the advocacy work she had to do as a teenager.
She sat in hearing rooms and stood in front of legislators when they called her, and people she knew, and her friends, the most horrible things. They told children that they were groomers and sexual perverts and shouldn’t be allowed near other people. And that’s just the things I can say to you over the phone and that you can put in print.
I don’t know if she will ever fully recover. Her personality has been completely changed because of what she had to do. And she’s not the only one. Children should not have to beg for basic human rights.
Part of me seeks some comfort in the fact that there’s a lot of us who are not going to stay quiet, we’re not going to let them do this to our children. They’re not going to get away without lots of people shedding light on their hatred and bigotry.
