There’s a video of a speech he gave a while back (published by prolific LGBTQ advocacy group Equality Texas) that’s now going viral. Ballard talks about discovering that his trans son, Ashur Ballard, had attempted suicide.
Realizing that Ashur was truly a boy, Ballard says, “Was I gonna try to be a bully? Was I gonna try to put him back in a box that fit the rules of my world at the time?”I didn’t have this kid to fulfill my dreams, I had this kid to help him realize his. I did what a dad does, I loved him. I still love him.”
ICYMI, the widely controversial Texas ‘bathroom bill’ was rejected – which proposed that trans students be forced to use the bathroom of their born sex. That’s good news. However, the conversation is far from over – Montana, Minnesota, and Virginia are proposing similar bills. As Ballard knows, now is the time for us to stand up for the LGBTQ community and start talking. If this stuff interests you, also read our piece on big money rejecting the bathroom bill.
“I’d like to believe that we are at a point in society where none of these issues no longer matter. The color of skin how a person identifies, what’s on their birth certificate … These are times when they want to build walls between our state and a culture that’s the very fabric that makes Texas great.”
