After members of a Facebook group outed her transgender child, Kelsey Waits launched the TransParent Alliance – an organization aimed at educating, empowering and connecting families with transgender children to experts and advocates.
(FOX 9) - Kelsey Waits had the idea for a non-profit long before her family’s story ever reached the national spotlight. Last fall, members of a Facebook group outed her 8-year-old transgender child, Kit, as Waits was running for re-election in a contentious Hastings school board race.
In response, hundreds in the community and beyond rallied behind her family. It was then Waits realized the need for resources was greater than ever.
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Trio of Minnesota moms launch non-profit for parents of transgender children
Along with Stacy Elling, who is the mother of a transgender child, and LGBTQIA+ advocate and ally Lee Stoffel, Kelsey Waits recently launched the TransParent Alliance – an organization aimed at educating, empowering and connecting families with transgender children to experts and advocates.
"Our experience over the last year really just adds to the necessity of this… showing how much misunderstanding and disinformation there is around transgender children and how much fear there is," Waits told FOX 9.
Along with Stacy Elling, who is the mother of a transgender child, and LGBTQIA+ advocate and ally Lee Stoffel, Waits recently launched the TransParent Alliance – an organization aimed at educating, empowering and connecting families with transgender children to experts and advocates.
"It’s really teaching parents and caregivers how to be their child’s first ally… we want to be able to meet parents where they are at, let them know that they’re not alone," said Waits.
The non-profit’s website features a 12-page guide for parents, answering common questions they may have. As they grow and raise donations, they’d like to offer welcome kits to families.
"We will send them a book for the parents, an age-appropriate book for the child and some goodies like name pronoun pins," Stoffel said.
The non-profit will be doing special outreach in rural parts of Minnesota. They hope to reach parents in communities that might have fewer resources.
"Transgender kids are actually the most at risk for suicide and research is really clear that supporting these kids in their home… is the single best way to decrease the risk of suicide," said Waits.
If you would like to learn more or to make a donation to the TransParent Alliance, visit HERE.