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How one Kansas City family is coping with anti-trans legislation

Lawmakers in Kansas and Missouri are passing bans on transgender kids' participation in sports and restrictions on gender-affirming healthcare for trans youth. We hear from the parents of a transgender teenager in Kansas City, who describe the immense mental and physical toll these political debates are having on their family.

Debi Jackson was a communications and marketing professional before she and her husband, Tom, had a child who began a non-medical transition to become a girl at the age of four. Since Avery was young, Debi has used her communications skills to educate herself and her family as well as people in her community about transgender kids. But she and her husband Tom say today's political climate has created challenges they’ve not faced in all their years of advocacy.

KCUR's Laura Ziegler sat down for a conversation with Debi and Tom to learn more about the toll debates in Jefferson City have had on Avery and how the climate and attitude surrounding trans people has changed over recent years.

Contact the show at news@kcur.org. Follow KCUR on Twitter and Facebook for the latest news.

Kansas City Today is hosted by Laura Ziegler. It is produced by Paris Norvell, Byron Love and KCUR Studios and edited by Gabe Rosenberg and Lisa Rodriguez.

You can support Kansas City Today by becoming a KCUR member: kcur.org/donate

As Kansas City grows and diversifies, journalists need to listen to the people, to your challenges and successes..As engagement and solutions editor, I’ll make sure we’re framing stories based on what we hear from you, and we’ll partner with communities so our stories help us understand and connect to one another. Email me at lauraz@kcur.org.
Paris Norvell is a freelance podcast producer for KCUR Studios,
As an on-demand producer, I am focused on using my skills and experiences across multiple digital applications, platforms and media fields to create community focused audio, video and on-demand products for KCUR Studios. The media that I produce aims to inform, entertain and connect with the Kansas City metro area as we continue to learn from each other. Email me at byronlove@kcur.org.
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