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upworthy

transgender rights

James Barlow shares his story on TikTok.

A dad is sharing his first encounter with a transgender woman in his small Texas town, and the simple lesson he taught his son is inspiring hope in others.

James Eric Barlow (oddragon226 on TikTok) shared a video from his car describing how he and his son saw a trans woman in real life for the first time. "We all know that there's people that are disgusted whenever they see a trans person," Barlow begins. "And we all know of the people who don't care if they see a trans person.

"But apparently, we're a third type of person (or at least I am, I can't speak for him)," he says, indicating his son in the backseat who chimes in with "I am, too!"

Barlow then goes on to explain how they had just had their first experience with a trans woman. It wasn't anything major—she just walked through a door behind them and Barlow held the door for her, just as he would any other person. He didn't even notice she was trans at first, but once he did, his immediate reaction was one we can all learn from.

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LQBTQIA+

Trans comedian shares her transition journey on TikTok in an uplifting and funny way

"I am grateful for every single human being that's along with me."

Photo by Kyle on Unsplash

Transitioning is easier with humor and supporters.

Transitioning can be a scary and lonely process depending on the support system a person has available to them. In some ways it can be intimidating when the only examples someone has are people who are already fully transitioned, or have spent years living fully out as their gender discovered after birth. A comedian from Los Angeles, Dylan Mulvaney, found herself looking around for folks that were in the early stages of transitioning when she was starting her journey. She started recording videos for her own use, but quickly found herself with more than a million followers.

Mulvaney had discovered long ago that she was indeed a girl, and made the declaration to her mother at the age of 4, she told Good Morning America. "When I was 4 years old, I came to my mom and said, 'Mom I'm a girl trapped in a boy's body. Help!'” Mulvaney began her transition journey at the age of 25, stating that "ultimately, I had to do that to honor who I truly am. And now I've never been happier. And it feels so good to know that, like, all of the darkness throughout my life, all of the experiences that I've gone through ... the hard conversations have all been worth it."

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Utah state senator Daniel Thatcher voted against overriding the governor's veto of an anti-trans bill.

We live in an era of hyperpartisanship in the U.S., one that is shaking the very foundations of our democratic experiment. It's exactly the scenario George Washington tried to warn us about in his farewell address when he called "the Spirit of Party" our "worst enemy," which would eventually lead to "the ruins of public liberty."

Politicians are so entrenched in partisanship that it's rare to see an elected official take a moral stand that goes against the party line. When we do see it, it's often from a politician who doesn't have much to lose—someone who is retiring or isn't up for reelection soon enough for their going against the grain to impact their career.

But every once in a while we see an elected official truly take a risk to do what they believe is right. Such is the case with Utah state senator Daniel Thatcher, who is up for reelection this year and who spoke out against a state bill banning transgender kids from playing sports that align with their gender identity.

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Dave Chappelle and Patton Oswalt have been friends for 34 years.

The first two decades of the 21st century have been a reckoning of sorts for humanity. Technology has shrunk our global community and broadened our connections with one another, forcing us to grapple with how prejudice, inequality and oppression of all kinds have influenced us all.

Some of that has been great. Some of it not so much. Social media has proven to be a double-edged sword, expanding our exposure to diversity on the one hand, and limiting our ability to have nuanced conversations on the other. Platforms such as Twitter allow people to make clear, concise statements about where they stand, which can be good and necessary at times. They also create an environment where a stance that doesn't fit neatly into 240 characters is ostracized as being wishy-washy at best and highly problematic at worst.

All of this combined has resulted in a weird paradox of people pushing for complex social discourse while also insisting on removing all complexity from that discourse.

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