Mom talks about that heartbreaking photo of her trans son to fight discriminatory bathroom bill

"I'm mad as hell."
 By 
Sasha Lekach
 on 

Amber Briggle is sick and tired of Texas lawmakers bullying her son. He’s part of the community affected by the anti-trans "bathroom bill" making its way through the Texas legislature.

On Tuesday, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott revived the bill after it stalled in the House during the regular legislative session.

So last week Briggle posted a powerful moment caught by local media earlier this year. In the post she wrote that the photo showed her transgender son, Max, crying outside the governor's office.

"Can I just admit for a second how effing tired I am of having to comfort my baby and protect him from bullies in Austin?" she wrote. She lamented how "this sucks so hard" and went on to say that he deserves a summer vacation with his friends, "not a political pissing contest with the Texas Legislature."

The photo resonated with almost 7,000 shares and more than 1,000 comments. Almost a week later she talked to HuffPost about why she decided to post the vulnerable moment with her son.

She told the media outlet she posted the photo on her public Facebook page because she was "hoping to gain visibility for transgender people across the state, and across the country since this fight is really taking place in every state to some degree.”

She said the photo "made my heart break" and she wanted others to feel and see how this impacts real people and kids who are being told their rights don't matter and that they shouldn't have the right to use the public bathroom of their choice.

Message received.

Mashable Image
Sasha Lekach

Sasha is a news writer at Mashable's San Francisco office. She's an SF native who went to UC Davis and later received her master's from the UC Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism. She's been reporting out of her hometown over the years at Bay City News (news wire), SFGate (the San Francisco Chronicle website), and even made it out of California to write for the Chicago Tribune. She's been described as a bookworm and a gym rat.

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