Supportive Christian father shares how his trans daughter taught him "unconditional love"https://www.lgbtqnation.com/2026/10/supportive-christian-father-shares-how-his-trans-daughter-taught-him-unconditional-love/ 🔗Daniel Villarreal (16 Oct 2026)
When the youngest of Mickey Lopez's three children seemed disinterested in boys' sports and preferred Barbie dolls to action figures, the conservative Roman Catholic father just assumed she'd grow up to be a gay boy.
"But by the time she was in high school, that didn't seem right, either," Lopez recently wrote in an op-ed for The News & Observer. While spending more time at home during the COVID-19 shutdowns, "she had the opportunity to truly examine herself; and after about a year and a half, she shared that she's a transgender girl."
Lopez initially felt "completely stumped" and unable to accept what his daughter's newfound gender identity might mean for their family. But he soon realized that if he wanted to stay involved in her life, he'd need to stay open to learning more.
"It got easier once I felt OK being vulnerable and not knowing all the answers," he wrote. "Looking back, I began to see what I'd missed – the sadness in her face in old pictures and the pressure to participate in activities she didn't want to do and to be someone she wasn't."
Despite feeling heartbroken that he wasn't able to make his daughter's life feel more enjoyable and fulfilling earlier on, he and his wife began publicly sharing their story to raise awareness about supportively parenting trans kids.
"It made me strikingly aware of how much misunderstanding and fearmongering there is in the world about transgender people and issues, and that there are a lot of people out there who don't want families like ours to succeed," he wrote.-------------------------------------
@Sarah B
