How two Denton parents got Ken Paxton to meet their transgender son
Briggle family having dinner with Paxtons.
Two local parents wanted to put a face to the issues transgender people encounter and so they invited Attorney General Ken Paxton to join them for dinner in their Denton home.
And he accepted.
Amber and her husband, Adam Briggle, hosted Paxton on Sept. 1 after many efforts to reach out to Paxton over the past few months. The Briggles have a transgender son and worry about legislature in place that effects the transgender community. The community needs resources and protection that the Briggle family said they felt is missing in the state of Texas, so they decided to reach out to the office of the Attorney General of Texas about their concerns.
“We specifically asked [Paxton] to not forget the trans-community,” Adam said in regards to the dinner with Paxton. “We’re real people who are effected by his position and legislation.”
Their goal for the evening was not to debate legislature or ideologies, but rather to show him a real American family he can connect to. Adam felt that prejudice is rooted in misunderstanding and the best way to understand is to make a personal connection.
“We didn’t want it to be a PR thing,” Amber said.
Public impressions were made and some reduced the evening to being a PR stunt for Paxton.
However, the dinner had more to do with humanity than politics. Paxton doing magic tricks with the children and Paxton’s wife Angela told them jokes, Amber said. She felt positive about the experience and to see people with different ideologies from different backgrounds laughing and talking in the same room.
Amber noticed a rainbow in the sky that day, taking it as a good omen for the evening.
She took the opportunity to meet with Paxton as a way to inspire other people in the LGBTQ community to reach out to their local representatives. If representatives are supposed to be a voice for the well-being of of their citizens, then the citizens should have their voice be heard.
“We want other families to do this,” Amber said.
It was an opportunity to talk about family, get to know each other on an intimate level, and make an impression, she said. It was an opportunity for them to voice their concerns, whether they were heard or not. The purpose was to be remembered and to inspire others to do the same.
The Briggle family wanted to add something human to an issue that is deeply political and controversial. Although they made no requests to withdraw or change any current legislation that does not fulfill the protection and resources for the trans-community, they did request that they not be forgotten.
In regards to his moments with Paxton, Adam said, “Now you have to think about us.”
“We didn’t want it to be a PR thing.”, says Amber Briggle. Yet that is exactly what it is.
On a personal level, her support of her son, even in this day, is laudable. But, it would be nice if everyone stopped treating her like am authoritarive voice for the queer commmunity. It says a lot that she gets more attention for not really saying much than the thousands upon thousands of trans people in North Texas who have had voices silenced for decades.
Be original. Be tough. Be gritty and real. Give actual transgender folks an opportunity to speak on our actual struggles. Enough with the obscurantism.