Cathy Petter

Because Harris knows trans rights are human rights

Long ago, when my then husband was two or three, he knew that he was supposed to be a girl. Nobody told him, he just knew it. He quickly figured out that nobody else wanted him to be a girl. It was something so forbidden that he thought he was the only person in the world who felt this way. Terrible things happen when we don’t allow people to be who they are. The deep, deep anger and frustration at being unable to be their true selves come out, whether directed at the people around them, or, even worse, at themselves. Jennifer didn’t transition until she was sixty. Can you imagine what it was like to wait fifty-seven years to become the person you’ve always known yourself to be? Within a year of her coming out publicly, two kids in our extended family, our own child and our brother and sister-in-law’s child, also came out, both as gender nonbinary and using they/them/he pronouns. These two young people (both are in their early twenties) are incredibly sensitive, bright, and talented. They have so much to offer the world. We need them in it. The move by individual states to limit and even prohibit treatment for people who identify as trans is frightening and dangerous. No government should be making medical decisions for an individual. We need someone who will fight hard to protect our right to live the lives that we are meant for. Kamala Harris understands this and is the right person to fight that fight.

Cathy Petter’s debut picture book, Dear Moxie, Dear Rex, will be published in October 2025 by Reycraft Books.