The documentary “Love to the Max” captures one family’s determination to live authentically in an anti-trans political climate.
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00:00Okay, I'm going to do the red first and then do the white.
00:10Okay.
00:11Look at all these sprinkles.
00:14I got sprinkles, you.
00:17That's not even a star anymore.
00:20It's a sprinkle star.
00:22Being trans is like the least interesting thing about me.
00:25It's exhausting just to talk about your gender
00:28and not show everybody all these cool things you can do.
00:32Yeah, oh, that looks nice.
00:34Double-decker.
00:35Very good.
00:36You want to focus on, like, what I am, not who I am.
00:40I think it's kind of frustrating sometimes
00:44because I just kind of want to do my own thing.
00:48Oh!
00:49I was doing pretty good.
00:50What's this thing?
00:51Oh, he's like the chomper buddy.
00:53Chomp, chomp.
00:56I don't like that one.
00:58I took the land ship.
00:59That looks like fun.
01:00Starship Eco Turbo.
01:02Oh!
01:03Oh!
01:04Somebody's mean.
01:06Yep.
01:07So walk me through what you've been dealing with,
01:10what other families have been dealing with in the state of Texas
01:12when it comes to some of these Child Protective Service investigations
01:15that they've launched.
01:17Well, when I got a call from Amber,
01:19because she had got a call from CPS saying that we're under investigation,
01:23she was on the floor crying, as you might imagine.
01:27I got there, and my first thought was,
01:29because we'd always thought this might happen,
01:31but my first thought was, is it too late to get out of the state?
01:48I was in shock.
01:49Like, here's, like, this woman who has been deputized by the governor
01:52to weaponize her power against my family.
02:01I remember thinking to myself,
02:03don't fall out of the chair or she's going to write that down
02:06that you're, like, an unfit mother or something.
02:11It's CPS.
02:13They're going to take my kids away.
02:23It's just an emotional, hard time.
02:26I just love getting together with parents like y'all,
02:28where it's like we can just talk about our kids.
02:31Eventually we'll get to that point where, like,
02:33Max won't be that trans kid.
02:35He'll just be Max, right?
02:37But, like, getting through that is, like, so painful.
02:41This is what we're up against.
02:43Like, they are so eager to harm our families.
02:46And it is hard because I don't want to leave.
02:49I don't want to leave you guys behind to have to fight by yourselves.
02:53We don't have that type of money to just move out of state, especially.
02:57It's one thing to move in a different place in Texas,
02:59but to move completely out of the state is, like,
03:02not something that I can do or that, like, we can afford even.
03:07I'm looking at it like, so if these bills pass,
03:11like, Max is 14, like, do we have four more years?
03:14Like, can we keep doing this for four years? I don't know.
03:16My former employer just banned having books with people like my own kid in them.
03:21Like, that, that hits hard.
03:23Yeah.
03:28If you're abusing your child like this around your own child,
03:31you are an abuser.
03:33You are an abuser.
03:34If you're abusing your child, you should be in jail.
03:36If this poor child deserves better,
03:39this poor child deserves better, you should be in jail.
03:42If you're abusing your children, they deserve better.
03:45If you're abusing your children, there's no such thing as a free style.
03:52Thank you so much for coming today.
03:54This is a place of love and acceptance,
03:57and that love means for all.
03:59And we want every human that walks in the door
04:02to find a book about them.
04:04And that's why we're here today.
04:10This is a book called Neither by Airlie Anderson.
04:12This is a book called Neither by Airlie Anderson.
04:15What kind are you?
04:17I'm both.
04:19You can't be both.
04:20You must be neither.
04:22I'm neither?
04:23So many different kinds in the land of all.
04:28The end.
04:29That's a good book.
04:35If you guys want to be gay and do all this with adults, that's great.
04:38I encourage that.
04:39But to do this with children, that's disgusting.
04:41That's disgusting.
04:42You guys should be ashamed of yourself.
04:43And y'all were probably sexualized as a child,
04:45and that's why you guys want to pay it forward,
04:47and that's really sad and disgusting.
04:49Baby, there is a man who's in the store.
04:51He went to the bathroom.
04:52I want you to stay away from him.
04:54I don't trust him.
04:56He keeps coming back in the store, and I don't like him,
04:58and I don't want him to be near you.
04:59Okay.
05:00Okay? Like, you stay by me.
05:07Guys, you're going to be on camera.
05:08I just want you to know you're going to be on camera,
05:10and they're really hateful people.
05:11Okay?
05:12Okay, let's get going.
05:13You want to cover your face?
05:14You want to cover your face?
05:15Okay.
05:16Lulu, you come hold my hand, Booger,
05:18and no one can hurt you when you're with me.
05:20You got me?
05:21I got you.
05:26We're going to go to a safe place and get a drink.
05:28Okay?
05:29Sorry it's not going to be hot, Coco.
05:31Lulu, we'll get you a bottle of water.
05:33Hey!
05:34Thanks for being here.
05:36All right, bye, y'all.
05:39I love you, good boys.
05:42You don't listen to them.
05:43You don't listen to them, sweetheart.
05:45They're hateful people.
05:47So, I'm really sorry.
05:52Good afternoon.
05:53My name is Amber Briggle,
05:55and I am terrified to be here today.
05:58I'm terrified because I'm the parent of a transgender child.
06:02My son is the most popular boy in seventh grade
06:05and loved by our friends, family, our church, and our community.
06:10This is possible because he has parents
06:13who affirm him and provide him the support he needs.
06:17Taking that support away from him, or worse,
06:22taking him away from his family
06:24because we broke the law to provide that support
06:27will have devastating and heartbreaking consequences.
06:36So, this is our safe folder.
06:38It's something that every parent of a trans kid should have.
06:42And it's just a collection of documents and pictures
06:47and just kind of evidence over the years
06:49that your kid really is trans and they are who they are inherently.
06:54So, we've got pictures of Max from starting in kindergarten.
07:01Yeah, that's a good one.
07:03I think he's super cute.
07:05We have here a self-portrait that Max made of himself probably...
07:10What do you think that was?
07:12Fourth grade, maybe?
07:14Also, I think we have something in here,
07:16like a letter from his principal from his elementary school
07:19saying that he's a good student and that we're good parents.
07:22The idea is that there's a suspicion that you must be child abusers
07:26if you have a trans child.
07:28And so, this isn't what most parents have to think about.
07:33I mean, I keep an eye on social media.
07:35And, like, I saw this on my way home.
07:37It's somebody tying a noose.
07:39Yeah. That seems problematic, threatening.
07:42And so, yeah, and I just...
07:44And I requested more police patrol at my business
07:49and for Patchouli Joe's around my neighbourhood
07:52for the next little while.
07:54It's getting scary.
07:56This is why people are leaving the state.
07:58It's not just, you know, it's occurred to me,
08:00it's not just they think the state's going to take their kid away.
08:03They think they're going to get caught in the crosshairs
08:06of something like this.
08:08Right?
08:10And they're going to end up dead.
08:19Hi, Parker!
08:21What are you doing?
08:23I love you. What are you doing?
08:25Are you overhearing the conversation?
08:27I'm sorry that you had to hear that, sweetheart.
08:30You're the best daughter in the whole wide world.
08:33I'm really sorry that you had to hear that.
08:36Is there anything you want to talk about?
08:38Nothing.
08:40Do you feel safe?
08:42Mm-hm.
08:56Thank you for joining us tonight to honour and remember
08:59our trans and gender non-conforming siblings
09:02we have lost to transphobic violence.
09:11From 2017 to 2021,
09:15at least 175 trans and GNC people
09:19were killed across the US.
09:22Only three cases were charged as hate crimes.
09:26Only 28 cases resulted in murder convictions.
09:3159 of those cases remain unsolved.
09:42Martina Caldera, 38, Channel View, Texas.
09:46Amari Leash, 21, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
09:51Maddie Hoffman, 47 years old,
09:56killed in Malvern, Pennsylvania.
09:58Mia Love Parker, 25.
10:01Jasper Aaron Lynch, 26.
10:03Ace Scott was only 15 years old.
10:07Tiffany Banks, 25.
10:09Madra Sequence Morse.
10:11Tatiana LaBelle.
10:12Catherine Newhouse.
10:13Oakland, California.
10:14Texas.
10:15Michigan.
10:16Indiana.
10:1724 years old.
10:1826.
10:1921.
10:21Say their names.
10:24Say their names.
10:31We say their names and we remember them.
10:34Thank you for participating.
10:52Are we ready?
10:55We're ready let's go.
10:58Okay.
10:59Lulu, I like your hair, it's really good.
11:03You can hold my hand when you need to let go.
11:09I can be your mountain when you're feeling valley low.
11:15I can be your streetlight, showing you the way home.
11:26I feel like there's a hurricane around you, and you're like the center of the hurricane.
11:31You try to be as calm as possible, but everything is like collapsing around you.
11:39I stay calm by just doing things that I enjoy.
11:42Talking with my friends at school, and hanging out with my family, stuff like that.
11:47We're just a normal family, and I'm a normal kid.
12:01You can hold my hand when you need to let go.
12:05I can be your mountain when you're feeling valley low.
12:09I can be your streetlight, showing you the way home.
12:13I can be your mountain when you're feeling valley low.
12:17I can be your streetlight, showing you the way home.
12:21I can be your mountain when you're feeling valley low.
12:25I can be your streetlight, showing you the way home.
12:29I can be your mountain when you're feeling valley low.
12:33I can be your mountain when you're feeling valley low.
12:37I can be your mountain when you're feeling valley low.
12:41I can be your mountain when you're feeling valley low.
12:45I can be your mountain when you're feeling valley low.
12:49I can be your mountain when you're feeling valley low.
12:53I can be your mountain when you're feeling valley low.