In 2013, being a transgender teenager often meant navigating a world of isolation, fear and closed doors. According to the Williams Institute, an estimated 300,000 youth ages 13-17 identify as transgender in the United States, yet a decade ago, medical care was scarce, support groups were rare and many families struggled alone in the darkness. When Hunter Keith came out as transgender at age 13 that year, his family’s journey to find support would evolve into something much bigger: Stand with Trans, a nonprofit organization that has grown from a small local support group into a national lifeline for thousands of transgender and non-binary youth and their families.
Hunter had already spent two years researching what it meant to be transgender. His mother, Roz Keith, found herself in unfamiliar territory, armed only with love and determination to help her child thrive.
“I had to Google the word transgender,” Roz recalls. “I didn’t know what gender identity disorder meant [a term that has evolved since 2013 to ‘gender dysphoria’].” But her immediate response to her son was one of unconditional love: “I just want you to be happy and healthy and safe and to be a productive member of society and to find love.”
For Hunter, who had been researching for years by that point, his preferred path ahead was clear. He knew what he needed when it came to gender-affirming care, but the resources were nonexistent. “When I came out, this was before Caitlyn Jenner, before all this was really in social media and in the media at all really,” Hunter says. “You would hear about an adult trans person on occasion, usually in the guise of nasty stereotypes.”
The reality for most transgender kids looks nothing like those stereotypes. Hunter’s journey, like so many others, includes moments that, in hindsight, made a great deal of sense years later. Roz recalls a poignant moment when he was 6 years old: “He was sitting in the bathtub playing and I was just sitting in the bathroom supervising. He looked up at me and said, ‘I’m a boy.’ And I said, ‘OK.’ I said, ‘Do you want to be a boy?’ And he said, ‘No, but I am a boy.’”
Looking back, the signs were everywhere. When playing with dolls, Hunter insisted his baby doll be a boy and needed boy clothes. His video game avatars were always male — Roz remembers watching him create buff, musclebound characters in The Sims. Even shopping trips revealed clues: At 3 or 4 years old, Hunter would gravitate to the boys’ section, running his small fingers over tiny sweater vests and dress slacks, telling his mother, “When I have a baby, this is what I’m going to buy for them.”
“He always felt like the weird kid, which is heartbreaking from a parent perspective,” Roz says. “He just didn’t have the language. He just felt different.” They often read Todd Parr’s “It’s Okay to Be Different” together, not yet understanding its deeper relevance to Hunter’s journey.
The pivotal moment came when Hunter asked for a haircut. Instead of sending photos of girls with short hair as Roz expected, he texted pictures of boys’ haircuts. When she questioned the masculine style, Hunter simply said “Yep” and walked away. Roz followed him upstairs for an explanation, and that’s when everything changed: “Mom, I’m transgender. I’m a boy. I’ve done my research,” Hunter told her, rattling off a list of needs from therapy to testosterone to surgery. He had spent two years researching after seeing a YouTube video that finally helped him understand his identity.
Research from the Williams Institute shows that transgender youth with supportive families have significantly better mental health outcomes than those without such support. Yet a decade ago, finding that support was challenging. “I was definitely the only openly trans kid that I knew for a while,” Hunter says. “Not having a support network of people my age or even a little bit older [so] that I could see I have a future was really hard. I think a lot of people take for granted when they see themselves represented in the media and when they see themselves represented even in the people around them.”
Finding medical care proved nearly impossible in Michigan. “There was not anything in Metro Detroit for him and for us,” Roz says. “It was one call after another and every call ended with ‘no, sorry, we can’t help you.’” The family ultimately traveled to Boston to find a doctor willing to see a transgender patient under 18 — one of only a handful of such clinics in the entire country at the time.
The breakthrough came when the Keiths shared their story through local media. What began as one family’s journey suddenly illuminated an invisible community desperate for connection and support.
“When we started Stand with Trans, it started as a group called Ally Parents,” Hunter explains. “There had been a wave of youth suicides. We kind of realized that not all parents were like mine.”
By February 2015, Stand with Trans had officially become a nonprofit organization. Their first community education event drew an overwhelming response. “We were expecting maybe 25, 30 people showing up,” Hunter recalls. “It was a full house. We ran out of flyers. We ran out of pamphlets that we had made. That was the wake-up call that, OK, this is definitely a needed nonprofit.”
In the decade since, Keith has been recognized for her advocacy work, appearing on local Michigan news outlets and contributing to discussions about transgender rights and healthcare access. In October, Keith appeared on “CBS Mornings” to discuss gender-affirming care and Stand with Trans in the wake of anti-LGBTQ+ legislative efforts ahead of the 2024 election.
Today, Stand with Trans has evolved far beyond those early support groups, including hosting an annual conference called TranscendGender that brings together transgender youth, families and allies. The organization also offers comprehensive virtual and in-person programming, reaching families nationwide. Their Lifeline Library, a digital repository of vetted information, has become particularly crucial as legislation targeting transgender youth sweeps across multiple states.
“We want the Stand with Trans website to be the destination for credible information,” Roz says. “There is so much disinformation out there. It’s really important to us to make sure that our content is vetted, that our sources are credible.”
According to the Williams Institute, transgender youth face disproportionate rates of anxiety, depression and suicide risk compared to their cisgender peers. A bright light in the research is that access to gender-affirming care and support significantly improves mental health outcomes. The Lifeline Library addresses these needs with resources ranging from crisis intervention to college planning, healthcare access guides to an extensive reading list for families beginning their journey.
The COVID-19 pandemic unexpectedly expanded the organization’s reach. “We had to figure out how to do the work when we couldn’t be in person,” Roz explains. “It was either do the work or shut down. So we figured it out, and that’s why our online resources are so important to us, because we know we are reaching people all over the place.”
Virtual support groups now connect transgender youth and their families across the country, breaking down the isolation that Hunter once felt so acutely. Recently refunded by the Hope Fund, the organization is expanding its Southeast Michigan resource section to include everything from medical care providers to transgender-friendly businesses. This comprehensive approach reflects a deep understanding of the challenges families face.
Hunter, now a successful retail manager, emphasizes the importance of supporting both youth and their families through transition. “Something that is said pretty commonly in the community is that your kid may have had seven years to come to terms with what they want to do and what they want to see in their future, and the parent has about seven minutes to process before the kids want to get things rolling,” he says. “That’s something that I think our organization has done a very, very good job of — just letting parents take a breath and recognize that there is a process to this. It’s not as overwhelming as it might seem in those seven minutes.”
As political headwinds threaten transgender rights in many states, Stand with Trans has joined forces with other Michigan LGBTQ+ organizations to provide expanded crisis resources and support. “Part of the reason that we come together as a coalition, as a network, is because we know collectively our voices are stronger,” Roz explains. “We can go to elected officials with requests that are more powerful when we say it’s coming from this entire community.”
That scared, isolated teenager who once had to travel to Boston for care is now a confident adult, living proof that with support and understanding, transgender youth can thrive. “For me, the only thing that I was seeing as a young teen was death rates of trans adults,” Hunter recalls. “Now, we can lead normal lives. We can just be ourselves.”
As Stand with Trans enters its second decade, Roz remains focused on the organization’s vital mission. “What I think is really important to talk about is how the care is lifesaving,” she says. “This isn’t just getting braces on a kid. This is lifesaving care.”
For more information about Stand with Trans and to access the Lifeline Library, visit standwithtrans.org.
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