As Kelley Robinson, president of the Human Rights Campaign, told me recently, “I think for the first time, at least in the history of my movement, we are seeing a new class of political refugees moving to a different state because they believe they are not secure on its own.” These are gender refugees. Here in America. American.
According to research by Clark University professor Abbie Goldberg published in January by the Williams Institute at UCLA Law School, which surveyed 113 Florida parents who were LGBTQ after the passage of the Don't Say Gay law in Florida, “56 percent of parents considered moving from Florida and 16.5 percent have taken steps to move from Florida.”
This study found that some respondents have saved money and are looking for jobs and homes elsewhere. But the fight-or-flight dilemma these families face is rife because, as the study points out, “many feel conflicted,” noting that “they love their family, friends and community.” They are pushed to choose between the comfort of their chosen tribe and the safety of their families—something no one should be able to do. It's a predicament that underscores that anti-trans laws are not noble, but evil; they don't protect, they prey.
And as the study noted, for some families with LGBTQ members, “moving is currently not possible,” because they are “caring for older family members or other dependents or have jobs they cannot find elsewhere.” Like Goldberg's explained: “For LGBTQ+ parents who do not have the means to transfer or send their children to private schools”—where, it is hoped, they will not have to be silent about their families—the pressures created by the anti-LGBTQ laws “will be significant.” Uprooting and moving away from political persecution is a privileged choice that isn't feasible for everyone, at least in the short term.
One notable family that decided to leave Florida is that of Dwyane Wade, who won three NBA championships with the Miami Heat, and film and TV star Gabrielle Union. The couple has a transgender daughter, 16-year-old Zaya, and Wade says Florida's anti-LGBTQ laws were one of the reasons they decided to move. In April, he said “My family would not be welcome or comfortable there” and in May, he was said of Miami, “As much as I love that city, and as much as I will always be a part of it, I can't – for the safety of my family, that's what happened to me – I can't' let it go.”