GRACE Releases Video Highlighting Conservative, Veteran’s Support for Transgender Issues

"I Love my Trans Child..." HEAR Conservative Combat Veteran’s Ask to Protect His Child in Powerful New Video"

WASHINGTON, DC, April 15, 2024 – The Gender Research Advisory Council and Education (GRACE), a new transgender-led national nonprofit organization that promotes equality, dignity, and respect for transgender individuals through research-based advocacy and amplifying transgender voices, released today a one-minute-long video featuring Eric Childs, Operation Iraqi Freedom combat Veteran with conservative values, and father to a transgender teenager.

Childs’ interview tells his story as a Veteran who deeply loves and supports his son, who is transgender. “I live in a small town in South Carolina. I absolutely believe in protecting my rights. And I absolutely love my trans child,” says Childs. Accompanying b-roll shows clips of Childs and his son bonding on a shooting range. To watch the video click here. GRACE plans to produce and release a second video in the coming months.

“As a Veteran of the U.S. Navy, and a trans person myself, I know firsthand how sensitive topics of gender identity are in our country’s current systems,” said Alaina Kupec, GRACE’s Founder and President. “It is my sincere hope that this video makes its way through lesser-reached networks and serves as an example of the power of a father’s love and shows the breadth of unwavering and bipartisan support for transgender issues.”

GRACE is releasing this video as the South Carolina legislature is considering H.B. 4624, a bill that would prohibit transgender youth from accessing gender-affirming care. In stark contrast to the bill’s potential to revoke parental rights to medical decision-making for their children, a recent poll from Mason Dixon Polling & Strategy found that 71 percent of South Carolina’s registered voters believe that the government should not intervene in parental gender-affirming health care decisions. This rate is replicated by a recent national Data for Progress poll, which found that 76% of registered voters believe that decisions regarding transgender care for youth should lie with parents or doctors, and not with the government.

“The impact of this story cannot be understated,” remarked filmmakers Spencer Macnaughton and Kenny Wassus. “Families like Eric’s exist all across the country and debunk the notion that people with conservative values can’t also be in favor of transgender rights.

The production is the first effort in GRACE’s “Just Like You” campaign launched to win the hearts and minds of Americans to support transgender equality in the same way the “Love is Love” campaign played a role in building strong bipartisan majorities to support marriage equality. 
GRACE was founded on the conviction that transgender issues are inherently human issues, and should be supported by champions of all political leanings. 

About GRACE

GRACE is a new trans-led organization that humanizes transgender experiences to combat the negative laws and rhetoric aimed at the trans community. GRACE is focusing its efforts on center and center-right audiences who are often not prioritized but whose support is needed to change the current national narrative. Visit www.grace-now.org.