Dad's Emotional Testimony Against Transgender Sports Ban Goes Viral

Brandon Boulware spoke in front of the Missouri House of Representatives, asking lawmakers to think again about a proposed transgender sports ban in schools

In life, there are few certainties. Chrissy Teigen will always dunk on trolls. Never start a land war in Asia. Mess with their kiddos, and parents will square up. Every time.

The latter happened earlier this month when Brandon Boulware gave his testimony as a loving parent in front of the Missouri legislature. Boulware spoke to the legislature in an effort to ask the body to nix a proposed transgender sports ban in the state’s schools. His daughter, Boulware said, was “absolutely miserable,” the attorney told the Missouri legislature earlier this month.

The ACLU shared the video on social media.

The attorney told those gathered about how he and his wife allowed his transgender daughter to wear the clothes she felt most comfortable in, grow her hair out, and play on girls’ sports teams. The father of four urged lawmakers not to pass a bill that would force his daughter to quit her tennis team, dance squad, and volleyball team by making students play on teams based on the sex listed on their birth certificates.

In a passionate speech, Boulware begged the legislature to rethink its plan. “I ask you, please don’t take that away from my daughter, or the countless others like her who are out there,” Boulware said. “Let them have their childhoods, let them be who they are. I ask you to vote against this legislation.”

Kristen Johnson said Boulware’s speech gave her chills.

“My child was miserable. I cannot overstate that,” Boulware said. “Especially at school. No confidence, no friends, no laughter. I can honestly say this: I had a child who did not smile.”

The pleas of a parent to consider their child touched the internet. Dwayne Wade weighed in with an Instagram post.

Boulware explained to the legislature how he came to his point of view. He told the galley about how his daughter had put on one of her older sister’s dresses and asked if she could go play with neighbors.

When Boulware told her no because it was time for dinner, his daughter’s answer rattled him: “She asked me, if she went inside and put on boy clothes, could she then go across the street and play? And it’s then that it hit me. My daughter was equating being good with being someone else. I was teaching her to deny who she is.”

At that moment, Boulware said, he and his wife never asked their daughter to act like a boy again.

Is there anything better than a parent who totally has their kid’s back? Jennifer Lopez appreciated the love in Boulware’s remarks.

“The moment we allowed my daughter to be who she is, to grow her hair, to wear the clothes she wanted to wear, she was a different child,” Boulware added. “It was a total transformation. I now have a confident, a smiling, a happy daughter.”

Boulware said the bill’s supporters incorrectly claim that transgender athletes who play on girls’ teams have an advantage over their biological female teammates.

“That is not really the situation,” Boulware said in an interview with The Washington Post, stating that some transgender children receive hormone therapy which lowers the level of testosterone in their bodies. “What these people are trying to do is score cheap political points at the cost of kids.”

Boulware told The Post he was amazed at how viral his statement went. The proud dad hopes his candor about his own experience as a father might influence lawmakers in Missouri and elsewhere.