Video of Father's Plea to Let Trans Daughter Play Sports Goes Viral

The emotional plea of a transgender girl's father to the Missouri State Senate to allow his daughter to play sports has gone viral, Newsweek reports.

On Monday, Brandon Boulware testified before Missouri lawmakers, imploring that they reject a proposed law that would ban transgender girls from playing sports alongside cisgender girls. "This language, if it becomes law, will have real effects on real people," Boulware said.

Boulware was one of many who addressed the committee meeting to oppose House Resolution 53, a bill that differs from other anti-trans bills in that it would codify discrimination into the state's constitution.

An attorney and father of four, Boulware shared in his testimony his own evolution as a parent, owning up to a past in which he forced his daughter to look, act and behave like a boy.

"For years, I didn't get it," he said. "Why did I do this? To protect my child... and, truth be told, I did it to protect myself as well. I wanted to avoid those inevitable questions as to why my child did not look and act like a boy.

"My child was miserable."

Boulware continued, "My daughter was equating being good with being someone else. I was teaching her to deny who she is. On that day, my wife and I stopped silencing our child's spirit.

"The moment we allowed my daughter to be who she is, to grow her hair, to wear the clothes she wanted to wear, she was a different child."

Boulware concluded that the law "will affect my daughter. It will mean she cannot play on the girls' volleyball team, dance squad or tennis team. It will mean she will not have the opportunity that all of us had to be part of a team."

So far, the video has received 63.7K likes and 27.3K retweets. Watch the video here: