一位密苏里州的父亲在立法者考虑禁止跨性别高中运动员之前，发表了一篇情绪化的演讲，为他的跨性别女儿辩护，他在演讲中恳求道，“让他们做他们自己。”
3月3日，布兰登·波尔维尔在密苏里州众议院发表讲话时，自称是两个男孩和两个女孩的父亲，“包括一个美妙美丽的变性女儿”。
波尔维尔敦促立法者投票反对联合决议53，这是一个类似于上周在密西西比州签署成为法律的法案禁止跨性别女孩和妇女参加学校运动。
他说，多年来，他不让女儿穿女孩的衣服，也不让她留长发，以“保护”她免受戏弄，但结果她“很痛苦”。
“说实话，我这么做也是为了保护自己。我想避免那些不可避免的问题，比如为什么我的孩子看起来和行为都不像个男孩，”他说。
波尔维尔说，当他的女儿穿着她姐姐的裙子让他和街对面的邻居一起玩时，他有了突破。
“她问我，如果她进去，穿上男孩的衣服，她能不能到街对面去玩?就在那时，它击中了我，”他说。"我女儿把做好人等同于做别人。"
“作为父母，我们不能做的一件事，就是让孩子的精神沉默。所以那天我和妻子不再压制我们孩子的精神，”他补充道。
从那时起，波尔维尔说他看到他的女儿成长为一个更快乐的自己。
“当我们允许我的女儿做她自己，留长发，穿她想穿的衣服去打仗的时候，她是一个不同的孩子。……我现在有了一个自信、微笑、快乐的女儿，”波尔维尔说。
密苏里众议院媒体中心
布兰登·波尔维尔在密苏里众议院股份公司提供了激动人心的证词...
3月3日，也就是他女儿的生日，他出现在州议会。他说她不知道他出现在立法者面前是为了代表她而战。
批评跨性别运动员加入团队的人认为他们有不公平的身体优势。
“我需要你明白，这种语言，如果它成为法律，将对真实的人产生真正的影响。会影响我女儿。波尔维尔说:“这意味着她不能参加女子排球队、舞蹈队或网球队。”我请求你，请不要把这个从我的女儿或其他无数像她一样的人那里拿走。"
“让他们拥有童年，让他们做自己。我请你们投票反对这项立法，”他补充说。
他的演讲视频由美国公民自由联盟截至周三已被浏览超过670万次。
该法案的发起人、共和党州众议员查克·巴斯耶(Chuck Basye)表示，该法案旨在支持女性运动员的运动生涯。
巴斯耶在接受当地电视台采访时表示:“女性或年轻女孩，也就是女士们，她们在竞技运动中努力工作，然后失去了继续深造获得大学奖学金的机会。”KTVI。
今年到目前为止，南达科他州和密西西比州通过了限制变性女孩的法案和妇女参加女子体育联盟。州长克里斯蒂·诺姆上周表示，她将签署南达科他州的法案，州长泰特·里维斯周四签署了密西西比州的法案。
Dad denounces Missouri's anti-trans athlete bill in speech about daughter
A Missouri father has gone viral for an emotional speech defending his transgender daughter before lawmakers considering a ban on trans high school athletes, in which he pleaded, "let them be who they are."
Brandon Boulware identified himself as a father to two boys and two girls, “including a wonderful and beautiful transgender daughter," when he spoke before the Missouri state House on March 3.
Boulware urged lawmakers to vote against Joint Resolution 53, a bill similar to the one signed into law in Mississippi last week thatbans trans girls and womenfrom participating in school sports.
He said for years he did not let his daughter wear girls' clothes or grow her hair out to “protect” her from being teased, but as a result she was "miserable."
"And truth be told, I did it to protect myself, as well. I wanted to avoid those inevitable questions as to why my child did not look and act like a boy," he said.
Boulware said he had a breakthrough when his daughter asked him to play with the neighbors across the street while she was wearing one of her sister’s dresses.
"She asked me if she went inside and put on boy clothes, could she then go across the street and play? And it was then that it hit me,” he said. "My daughter was equating being good with being someone else."
“As parents, the one thing that we cannot do, the one thing is silence our child’s spirit. So on that day my wife and I stopped silencing our child’s spirit,” he added.
From then, Boulware said he’s seen his daughter flourish into a happier version of herself.
“The moment we allowed my daughter to be who she is, to grow her hair, to wear the clothes she wanted to war, she was a different child. … I now have a confident, a smiling, a happy daughter,” Boulware said.
He appeared before the state House on March 3, his daughter’s birthday. He said she did not know he was appearing before lawmakers to fight on her behalf.
Critics of having transgender athletes on teams argue they have unfair physical advantages.
“I need you to understand that this language, if it becomes law, will have real effects on real people. It will affect my daughter. It will mean she can’t play on the girls’ volleyball team or dance squad or tennis team,” Boulware said. “I ask you, please don’t take this away from my daughter or the countless others like her out there.”
“Let them have their childhoods, let them be who they are. I ask you to vote against this legislation,” he added.
Video of his speech shared by theAmerican Civil Liberties Unionwas viewed more than 6.7 million times by Wednesday.
Republican state Rep. Chuck Basye, the sponsor of the bill, said the bill is intended to support cisgender girls in their athletic careers.
"Women or young girls, ladies in that matter, after they work hard in a competitive sport and then lose that opportunity to go on to the next level to get a college scholarship," Basye said to local TV stationKTVI.
So far this year, two states -- South Dakota and Mississippi --have passed bills that would restrict transgender girlsand women from participating in female sports leagues. Gov. Kristi Noemsaid last week that she would sign South Dakota's bill, and Gov. Tate Reeves signed Mississippi's on Thursday.
