Saturday, September 26th, marks a major milestone for the Minnesota-based non-profit Transforming Families. They will celebrate the 10th anniversary of its Day of the Transgender Child. The annual event is dedicated to honoring and uplifting transgender youth.
Executive Director Hannah Edwards spoke with us about how Day of the Transgender Child started as a picnic and has since transformed into a major public gathering that features resource organizations, speakers, and official proclamations from both Governor Tim Walz and the city of Minneapolis. Article continues below.
Watch our conversation
Day of the Transgender Child
Is started in 2016 as a picnic gathering for families with transgender children to be in community and share mutual support. Since then it has grown into a full-day event featuring drag story hours, elected officials, music, dancing, art, resource organizations, and art shows.
“It’s just so exciting to live in a state where we can have this public affirmation of our trans youth,” Edwards said. “Especially in a country right now where that’s not the case in many other locations. And so it’s not lost on me that we’re able to have this day at all, let alone be celebrating the 10th year of it.”
This year’s Day of the Transgender Child will display a youth art show, in addition to having arts and crafts stations. Stonewall Sports will offer lawn games and local gyms Solcana and HardShell will provide family activations.
“We try to think of as many fun activations that we can have that are just going to provide that opportunity for our kiddos to feel safe and happy and healthy,” Edwards said. “We try to reach the whole child.”
Edwards served as an art teacher for 13 years and is excited for this year’s youth art show in which trans youth artists responded to the prompt, “What brings you trans joy?” The pop-up gallery at the event will not just display the art works, but selected pieces will be sold as card sets.
“Art gives voice to feelings a lot of times,” Edwards said.
A keynote speaker on Saturday will be Representative Leigh Finke. She is the chair of the Queer Legislators Caucus and was the first openly transgender member elected to the Minnesota Legislature.
Minnesota As Trans Refuge State
Edwards noted that families from Iowa, Wisconsin, and greater Minnesota travel to the Twin Cities to participate in Day of the Transgender Child.
This year’s event will take place in a hostile national political environment as the Trump administration continues to spread misinformation about the transgender community, especially trans youth. His Department of Health and Human Services, led by conspiracy theorist RFK, Jr, has taken unprecedented steps to ban medical care that is backed by decades of peer-reviewed scientific research. All major medical associations approve of and recommend providing gender-affirming care to both trans youth and adults.
Minnesota is one of only 11 trans refuge states, which means the state offers legal protections, has access to gender-affirming care, and provides opportunities for trans people to fully participate in public life and education.
Minnesota passed its trans refuge law in 2023, 30 years after the state became the first in the country to include gender identity in its non-discrimination laws, in this case the Minnesota Human Rights Act.
“We have this longstanding history where since 1993, we’ve been networking and sharing our stories and building community that includes trans people and trans rights,” Edwards said. “And so we’re just less likely to give that up, I think. It’s just because we know better. We do better.”
She noted that it took decades of grassroots community organizing that led to those two landmark legislative moments in 1993 and 2023.
“I think that’s why we have so many families, I mean, we have families who’ve moved from other trans refuge states,” Edwards said. “We have families who’ve moved from California because it’s better here, moved from Colorado, and they’re part of Transforming Families now, and our community is better for having them with us.”
Peer-Led Support Model
Transforming Families continues to grow as an organization, expanding its peer-led model to Mankato, Rochester, and Duluth. The organization operates meetings that are for parents and caregivers raising transgender children.
“What we do is peer-led support. So it’s parents and caregivers leading and facilitating a parent caregiver group,” Edwards explained.
During those meetings, Transforming Families facilitates youth groups with age-appropriate programming and trans or non-binary adults serving as mentors to teen and tween groups.
“It really is just validating feelings and listening and giving support,” Edwards said of these youth groups. “[They may say] ‘I feel sad when my parents get my pronouns wrong.’ Then we have a trans adult who can say, “‘Oh yeah, that really stinks. I’m so sorry. What are some things you can do that help you feel better? Or how can you be in conversation with your parent and let them know and bring them in on getting better?'”
Edwards emphasized that, “I want people to know that trans kids are just kids. And so a lot of times our meetings can just look like the teens and tweens are talking about, ‘Hey, I’m really obsessed with “Wicked” right now. Let’s talk about musicals.’ Or with our littles, a lot of times it’s like Roblox or Pokemon and gender is part of it, but mostly in the way that you don’t have to explain yourself or tell people, ‘Get my pronouns right.'”
When asked about what Minnesota needs to consider doing next to continue to support trans youth, Edwards said we can’t back down.
“We can’t let transphobia slide. We can’t forget about trans youth and let them be what we let go of,” she said. “What I hope for Minnesota is that we can continue showing up and creating this safe environment or safer environment so that our trans kids can grow and thrive and be happy.”
For more information about Day of the Transgender Child and Transforming Families visit tffmn.org.
