‘Love changes the world’: Jennifer Lopez showed her support for the LGBTQ community online Tuesday, sharing video of the father of a transgender teen athlete advocating for his daughter’s right to participate in high school sports in Missouri. She’s seen in 2020 above

 

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In the video Mr. Boulware talked at length about how he came to accept his daughter’s gender identity and how the proposed legislation – which would ban trans athletes from participating in high school sports in Missouri unless they participate under the gender listed on their birth certificate – would impact the transgender community.

‘I’m a husband and father of four kids — two boys, two girls — including a wonderful and beautiful transgender daughter,’ Boulware said, also describing himself as ‘a lifelong Missourian, business lawyer, Christian and the son of a Methodist minister.’

‘For years, I would not let my daughter wear girl clothes. I did not let her play with girl toys. I forced my daughter to wear boy clothes and get short haircuts and play on boys’ sports teams.’

Boulware said he hoped he could protect his child from being picked on but also personally ‘wanted to avoid those inevitable questions as to why my child does not look and act like a boy.’

A father’s love: Mr. Brandon Boulware explained how he came to accept his daughter after realizing how ‘miserable’ hiding her true self made her. She began to flourish after her family embraced her identity and joined girls volleyball not long after

Controversial: The proposed legislation would ban trans athletes from participating in high school sports in Missouri unless they participate under the gender listed on their birth certificate

It took years for him to realize how ‘miserable’ he was making her, only opening his eyes after accidentally finding his daughter wearing her sister’s clothes.

‘I had gotten home from work, and my daughter and her brother were in the front lawn and she had sneaked on one of her older sister’s play dresses. And they wanted to go across the street and play with the neighbor’s kids … I said no,’ he explained.

‘She asked me if she went inside and put on boy clothes, could she then go across the street and play. And it was then that it hit me. My daughter was equating being good with being someone else.’

Accepting his daughter, Boulware let her start living authentically and she joined the high school volleyball team not long after, an experience the father-of-four begged Missouri legislators not to take away from her and other trans youth.

‘I ask you: Please don’t take that away from my daughter or the countless others like her that are out there. Let them have their childhoods. Let them be who they are. I ask you to vote against this legislation,’ he said.

Plea: ‘I ask you: Please don’t take that away from my daughter or the countless others like her that are out there. Let them have their childhoods. Let them be who they are. I ask you to vote against this legislation,’ he said

Jennifer has long been a supporter of the LGBTQ community.

Last year she proudly shared a piece of her transgender ‘nibling’ (a gender-neutral term in place of niece or nephew) Brendon Scholl’s short film Draw With Me to her social media, calling the project ‘close to my heart.’

‘Draw With Me is a story about a transgender youth and their journey of coming out to their family and also engaging in their art to help them cope with the feelings they were having during this time,’ Lopez wrote on Instagram last August.

‘It’s a story that’s very close to my heart, because it was a family affair,’ she continued, saying: ‘It’s about accepting change and challenges with love and knowing that whenever we do, anything is possible.’

Ally: Last year Jennifer (above at the 2014 GLAAD Awards) proudly shared a piece of her transgender ‘nibling’ (a gender-neutral term in place of niece or nephew) Brendon Scholl’s short film Draw With Me to her social media, calling the project ‘close to my heart’