a little bit about me

Editor’s note: Amid a charged national conversation about transgender rights, the question of how best to love, support, and care for trans-identifying young Americans has become a source of fervent debate. In recent months, as a wave of legislation and orders has emerged from conservative statehouses designed to block gender-­affirming medical treatment for young people, Vogue sent the photographer Ethan James Green and writer Devan Díaz to Texas to meet a girl already very much in the public eye. The following text, images, and video documentary are the result. Every young person’s story is different, and Vogue urges readers and parents to consult resources as varied as the Human Rights Campaign, the American Medical Association, PFLAG, Gender Spectrum, the Trevor Project, and others when seeking support and care.

Article – In a quiet neighborhood in Austin, Texas, an 11-year-old girl walks to the end of a road to check her family’s mailbox. Afterward, she will pause to pet a friendly cat, greet the neighbors, or maybe visit a local lemonade stand. She likes to take her time, because a busy schedule waits at home. Most days consist of school lessons taught by her mom, Zoom meetings with agents, auditions, Discord group chats, video games, and a book proposal she’s working on with a potential publisher. YouTube rabbit holes (on Greek goddesses and Dolly Parton, mostly) slide in between responsibilities. Despite the full itinerary, her mother makes sure she splits duties of taking out the trash and feeding the chickens with her younger brother, Kaleb. One morning, eyes still drowsy from the night before, she tells me, “I sleep with my mom, because I’m afraid of what could happen. I’m really tired.”

She isn’t talking about a simple childhood fear of the dark. Kai Shappley, and all transgender children in Texas, now have more to fear than the boogeyman. In February 2022, Texas governor Greg Abbott issued a letter to the Department of Family and Protective Services directing the state agency to investigate medical treatments for transgender adolescents—​such as puberty blockers and hormones—as child abuse. The letter asserts that there are reporting requirements for “all licensed professionals who have direct contact with children who may be subject to such abuse, including doctors, nurses, and teachers,” and that a failure to report merits criminal penalties.