'I just want us to be left alone.' LGBTQ voters list abortion, trans issues among top concerns

KERA | By Kailey Broussard

Published October 30, 2024 at 9:47 AM CDT

Mariana Teran, left, and Leslie Pacheco, right, pose during The Market on the Strip, a weekly market in Dallas's Oak Lawn neighborhood.

KERA has spent election season speaking with voters across North Texas about the top issues on their minds as they plan to vote.

Voters who are part of the LGBTQ+ community said their top issues include access to gender-affirming care for minors and abortion.

Both are effectively banned in Texas. More than a dozen states, including Texas, outlaw abortion in almost all cases.

Around two dozen states, including Texas, prohibit gender-affirming care for those under 18. State Attorney General Ken Paxton recently sued a North Texas doctor for allegedly providing hormone therapy to minors after the state's ban took effect Sept. 1, 2023.

Many major health associations endorse age-appropriate gender therapy for minors as methods to treat gender dysphoria. The Endocrine Society generally recommends hormone therapy after a minor is able to provide informed consent to medical treatment — usually considered around age 16.

However, opponents have disputed the research surrounding the effects of care such as puberty blockers and hormone therapy and argue that kids are too young to make life-changing decisions about their bodies.

Both abortion and trans rights have been major talking points in this year's elections, both at the state and federal level. Here's what some voters across North Texas had to say.

Mariana Teran, Fort Worth

"Just feeling like I don't have control over my body is probably what worries me the most. Not just abortion in general, but what leads up to if you happen to need an abortion health wise? That's definitely something I think about constantly."

Kate Kalivoda, Mansfield

Kate Kalivoda said she is concerned about the outlook of issues including abortion and marriage equality, as well as how both parties have handled discussions of the LGBTQ community. "I think that we need to drill down into the humanity of the issue instead of ostracizing and creating a situation where we're saying that they're defective as human beings," she said.

"For me, I think (my top issues) are a lot of the same issues that other people are concerned about, things like the cost of housing and groceries, the economy, of course, and understanding a little bit about the different presidential candidates' plans for the economy and how that might look short term, mid-range and long-term in terms of our national debt or taxes. I am very, very interested in those things, but also I'm very interested in how each party's and each candidate's policies would affect our personal freedoms as Americans and certain aspects of our autonomy. Abortion and women's right to choose is a very important issue to me. And I am concerned that in recent years, the Supreme Court's decision in Dobbs that reversed Roe versus Wade could be a sort of bellwether issue."

Jillian Moran, Fort Worth

Jillian Moran said she's worried about the overturning of Roe v. Wade, as well as a recent Texas Department of Public Safety policy change that bars people from changing the gender on their driver's license. "You know what I want to see? I want to see abortion rights back on back on the ballot. I want to be able to go to Austin and not have to worry that because I can't change my driver's license, I'm going to get arrested. I just I just want us to be left alone," she said.

"The topic that's most on my mind, obviously right now because I am a transgender woman, is the issues of transgender rights and all the lies that are being said about kids. But at the same time, those are going to be the same stories they begin to use for adults and try to ban care for everyone, not just children. Nobody is sending their kids to school and coming back with a transgender, gender-changed child." ...

"You know what I want to see? I want to see abortion rights back on back on the ballot. I want to be able to go to Austin and not have to worry that because I can't change my driver's license, I'm going to get arrested. I just want us to be left alone."

Justin Galloway, Arlington

Justin Galloway said he does not support puberty blockers or gender-affirming surgery for transgender youths. The issue has led him to change his party affiliation over the years.

"Being a gay male, the LGBT issues are important to me, particularly the gender ideology. I tend to now be a little more conservative after being very liberal on that issue for almost 20 years. I became a little more conservative about it when the tides kind of turned towards children, and that's where I became a little more opposed to some of the places that I felt the far left were going with gender ideology and the transitioning of children and puberty blockers and also dealing with sports in high school."

Kailey Broussard is KERA's health reporter. Got a tip? Email Kailey at kbroussard@kera.org.

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