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Josie, 16, moved to Rhode Island in April to flee insurance policies in Florida that prohibit transgender rights. Her dad and mom cannot go along with her but, so she’ll dwell with an aunt and uncle till she finishes highschool.
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Josie, 16, moved to Rhode Island in April to flee insurance policies in Florida that prohibit transgender rights. Her dad and mom cannot go along with her but, so she’ll dwell with an aunt and uncle till she finishes highschool.
Stephanie Colombini/WUSF
Josie had delay packing lengthy sufficient. It was time to make some robust choices about what to deliver and what to go away behind. The highschool sophomore from St. Augustine, Fla. sat on her mattress one current morning whereas her mother Sarah pulled garments from her closet.
It held a trove of excellent recollections — just like the pink gown Josie wore to the winter homecoming dance. And the pink cover-up she sported at a buddy’s pool social gathering.
Whereas packing for Rhode Island, Josie and her mother reminisced in regards to the clothes she wore to particular occasions, equivalent to a homecoming dance. Josie was simply days away from leaving her childhood house in St. Augustine, Florida.
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Whereas packing for Rhode Island, Josie and her mother reminisced in regards to the clothes she wore to particular occasions, equivalent to a homecoming dance. Josie was simply days away from leaving her childhood house in St. Augustine, Florida.
Stephanie Colombini/WUSF
Good occasions like these have felt scarce recently. Josie, who’s transgender, not feels welcome in Florida.
Her household requested they be recognized by their first names solely, fearing retaliation in a state the place Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis and different officers have politicized and handed anti-trans insurance policies in well being care and schooling.
Conservative states throughout the nation are pushing a document quantity of payments that focus on LGBTQ rights, notably transgender rights. That is pressured residents like Josie to rethink the place they need to name house.
In only a few days, Josie was shifting greater than a thousand miles away from St. Augustine – and her dad and mom – to begin a brand new life in Rhode Island. Her aunt and uncle dwell exterior Windfall, and he or she’ll stick with them and attend highschool close by.
Her mother Sarah held up outfit after outfit and requested, “Staying or going?”
The formal gown may keep. Cardigans and overalls went within the suitcase. At one level, the household canine Reesie crawled previous the bags to snuggle as much as Josie.
“She has, like, a way after I’m unhappy, and he or she simply comes operating in,” says Josie, 16.
Transferring to Rhode Island had been “Plan B” for awhile, however Josie says she by no means thought it could really occur. However quite a bit has modified within the final yr.
“It is unbelievable how far the state has fallen,” she says.
What drove Josie to go away
Florida is certainly one of greater than a dozen states which have handed bans on gender-affirming medical remedies for minors, equivalent to puberty blockers, hormone remedy and sure surgical procedures.
In Florida, the state medical boards started debating these bans final summer time, they usually went into impact in March. For months, Josie was terrified she would lose entry to the hormones she takes to assist her physique align along with her gender identification.
Most main nationwide medical associations agree gender-affirming care is protected and efficient. However the Florida medical boards argued the remedies have been “experimental,” and barred docs from prescribing them to minors.
A provision within the new rules meant that children like Josie, who’d already began care, may proceed with their remedies. However she did not belief that may final.
She pointed to the truth that this spring the legislature thought-about forcing all trans youth to cease therapy by the top of the yr, as a part of a invoice to bolster restrictions on transgender care.
“I assumed that they’d notice what they’ve accomplished mistaken and, you recognize, repeal some issues,” she says. “However they only saved going. It simply grew to become, like, too actual, too quick.”
Lawmakers ended up stripping that exact provision on Might 4, simply earlier than the session ended, permitting children like Josie to remain in therapy.
Protestors attended a Florida Board of Drugs assembly on Oct. 28, 2022, the place the board proposed bans on gender-affirming medical take care of minors. On Feb. 10, the Florida Board of Drugs and the Florida Board of Osteopathic Drugs voted to impose the bans, which went into impact March 16, 2023.
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Protestors attended a Florida Board of Drugs assembly on Oct. 28, 2022, the place the board proposed bans on gender-affirming medical take care of minors. On Feb. 10, the Florida Board of Drugs and the Florida Board of Osteopathic Drugs voted to impose the bans, which went into impact March 16, 2023.
Daylina Miller/WUSF
However she had already determined to go away.
College has been difficult at occasions since Josie got here out as trans in eighth grade. Some childhood associates ended up rejecting her.
Josie needed to play on the women’ tennis group, however a Florida legislation handed in 2021 bars trans ladies from competing on faculty groups meant for athletes assigned feminine at delivery.
It was additionally painful when Florida academics needed to begin watching what they stated about LGBTQ points, a results of the chilling impact from one other current Florida legislation, the Parental Rights in Training Legislation. Critics name that the “Do not Say Homosexual” legislation.
Josie observed that at her faculty, stickers signifying that areas have been “protected areas” for LGBTQ folks had been taken off classroom doorways.
“Which is simply ridiculous, such as you need your college students to be comfy and protected,” she says.
Different households additionally shifting or planning to go away Florida
The brand new legal guidelines and anti-trans political rhetoric are hurting children throughout Florida, says Jennifer Evans, a medical psychologist on the College of Florida’s Youth Gender Program in Gainesville.
“I am seeing extra nervousness, extra melancholy,” Evans says. “Issues I hear sufferers say are, ‘The federal government does not need me to exist.’ They do not really feel protected.”
Many Republican-led states are pushing measures that deal with all types of gender-related points — not simply transgender well being care, however what colleges can educate or what bogs folks can use.
Payments do not need to cross to trigger hurt, says Evans, who identifies as queer.
“It is quite a bit to really feel like sufficient folks on this nation do not agree along with your existence — which really is not affecting them – that individuals need to shut down different folks’s entry to residing full and affirmed lives,” she says. “It is painful to see that.”
4 households who beforehand sought care at Evans’ clinic have already moved out of Florida, she says, whereas one other ten households have plans to go away later this yr. Some older teenagers she treats are additionally planning to get out after they flip 18.
However shifting is not simple. Josie’s dad Eric says that like many households, that they had quite a bit at stake.
“, simply financially it is tough to uproot what we have arrange,” he says.
Josie’s dad and mom Eric (proper) and Sarah (left) say it is going to be actually laborious to not have Josie round the home however say they’re dedicated to persevering with to struggle for trans children in Florida whereas she’s away in Rhode Island.
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Josie’s dad and mom Eric (proper) and Sarah (left) say it is going to be actually laborious to not have Josie round the home however say they’re dedicated to persevering with to struggle for trans children in Florida whereas she’s away in Rhode Island.
Stephanie Colombini/WUSF
They’ve owned their house in St. Augustine for a very long time. Eric just lately began a brand new job, whereas Josie’s mother Sarah works at a non-public school, which features a profit that permits Josie and her older sister to get decreased tuition at some faculties across the nation.
So her dad and mom determined that, not less than for now, Josie would go dwell along with her aunt and uncle and they’d keep behind in St. Augustine.
It was a devastating and emotional choice to need to make.
“It was simply terror in my coronary heart, like you could possibly simply really feel that chilly burst in my chest simply going all all through my physique, simply a number of shock” says Sarah. “I could not think about what it could be prefer to get up — like Josie’s a part of every part I do.”
A brand new house and a “bombardment” of help
Josie will end her sophomore yr up north in Rhode Island earlier than returning to St. Augustine for summer time break. Her household sees it as a trial run for what may very well be years of separation.
One evening earlier than Josie left, she invited a number of associates over for a going away social gathering. The kids performed a dance online game, laughing as they tried to carry out a hip-hop routine in sync.
Sarah introduced out a black forest cake. “We love you Josie” was piped in frosting alongside the sting of the platter, framed by two hearts.
For her going away social gathering, Josie’s dad and mom purchased a black forest cake. Icing alongside the underside spells out “We Love You Josie.”
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For her going away social gathering, Josie’s dad and mom purchased a black forest cake. Icing alongside the underside spells out “We Love You Josie.”
Stephanie Colombini/WUSF
It was a easy however highly effective send-off from the group help system Josie has relied on in Florida.
Just a few days later, she and her mother flew north to get Josie settled. Leaving her daughter in Rhode Island was “agony” for Sarah.
“I used to be a multitude,” she says. “I cried the entire technique to the airport. I simply felt I used to be going the mistaken approach.”
Again in St. Augustine, Sarah continues to be adjusting to life with out Josie at house, however they discuss every single day.
And Josie is getting used to her new atmosphere in Rhode Island. The cooler climate is nice, she says, and her aunt and uncle have been actually supportive.
Her new highschool is somewhat smaller than her previous one, and in a extra liberal space. Josie says in her first week she made not less than one buddy per day, and has since made extra.
Josie posed for a photograph on April 17 exterior her aunt and uncle’s home, earlier than heading off for her first day at her new highschool in Rhode Island.
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Josie posed for a photograph on April 17 exterior her aunt and uncle’s home, earlier than heading off for her first day at her new highschool in Rhode Island.
Household picture
She loves seeing satisfaction flags within the halls and plans to hitch the Gender and Sexuality Alliance Membership. All of it appears like a “bombardment of help.”
“It was identical to such a shock to me – like not a foul shock, however like simply shocked that that is how colleges might be, it is simply that Florida’s simply selecting to not be like that,” says Josie.
Gov. Ron DeSantis’ workplace has not responded to a number of requests for remark to deal with the issues of households like Josie’s. The state has taken extra authorized steps to limit trans rights since she left in April.
Josie’s dad and mom say they are going to hold their satisfaction flag waving within the entrance yard and advocate for equality whereas their daughter is away.
Josie says she additionally thinks about children in Florida who cannot depart, and he or she urges them not to surrender hope.
However for proper now, she wants to maneuver on in her new life.
For help, name Trans Lifeline at 877-565-8860 or The Trevor Venture at 866-488-7386.
This story comes from NPR’s well being reporting partnership with KFF Well being Information and WUSF.
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