That's true. A similar case is of a Republican US Representative Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, FL, who had a change of heart because of having a transgender son. It's a start and we need all the allies we can get. She could just have easily gone the route of Leelah's parents.
But the interesting part of the article was the story of Dripping Springs Texas where local cis parents, some of whom has previously expressed anti-trans sentiments, banded together to support a transgender girl in their district in a show of good old "Texas defiance" to meddling outsiders. In this case the statewide anti-trans group, Texas Values.