As his trans daughter struggles, a father pushes past his prejudice. ‘It was like a wake-up.’

MicroWave@lemmy.world to News@lemmy.world – 350 points – As his trans daughter struggles, a father pushes past his prejudice. ‘It was like a wake-up.’
nbcnews.com

Dusty Farr is fighting for his transgender daughter's right to use the girls' bathroom at her Missouri high school.

Before his transgender daughter was suspended after using the girls’ bathroom at her Missouri high school. Before the bullying and the suicide attempts. Before she dropped out.

Before all that, Dusty Farr was — in his own words — “a full-on bigot.” By which he meant that he was eager to steer clear of anyone LGBTQ+.

Now, though, after everything, he says he wouldn’t much care if his 16-year-old daughter — and he proudly calls her that — told him she was an alien. Because she is alive.

“When it was my child, it just flipped a switch,” says Farr, who is suing the Platte County School District on Kansas City’s outskirts. “And it was like a wake-up.”

Farr has found himself in an unlikely role: fighting bathroom bans that have proliferated at the state and local level in recent years. But Farr is not so unusual, says his attorney, Gillian Ruddy Wilcox of the American Civil Liberties Union of Missouri.

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Yeah dude I'm usually against forced drugging but some people literally need to be tied down, fed molly, and made to watch Titanic or something to kickstart their empathy drives. Maybe Sophie's Choice...idk I haven't seen it because I have the opposite problem.

They'd root for the iceberg and the Nazis. Because again, it wouldn't be happening to anyone they care out. Of course, the biggest problem is the only person they care about is themselves. They'd have to go through a scenario like the first segment of Twilight Zone: The Movie if we would have even a hope of getting them to have any empathy.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twilight_Zone:_The_Movie#Segment_one

They'd root for ... the Nazis.

This is not hyperbole. Lots of them are rooting for the Nazis right now.

That reminds me of this poem:

First they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out—
     Because I was not a socialist.

Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out—
     Because I was not a trade unionist.

Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out—
     Because I was not a Jew.

Then they came for me—and there was no one left to speak for me.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_they_came_

Very much so. Except he's one of the lucky ones because he's white, cis, probably heterosexual and male, so no one will ever need to speak out for him.

It's that privilege that obligates us to speak for others. Because even though I can't speak from personal experience, I'm more likely to be listened to. So I do the best I can to speak for those who go unheard, imperfect as my understanding is.

That movie looks hella rad. Adding to the list.

Edit: apparently this is basically a snuff film because the director got the lead and some kids killed via negligence. I'm gunna skip it, on second thought...

I hope you enjoy it. I always liked it, although some fans of the original show don't.

I haven't seen it because I have the opposite problem.

I can relate to that. I'm one of those people who won't even squash bugs, and even heavy-handed, poorly written emotional moments in movies can make me tear up because I'll inevitably find something in there that speaks to me. Shits wild compared to my friends and family