When Bug got home from school one winter afternoon in late 2024, his mother was on the couch, watching 30 Rock re-runs. Bug sat down next to her; he had an announcement to make.
Bug, who was assigned female at birth, told his mother he was a boy — and would be using he/him pronouns.
"OK, cool," his mother, J, remembers saying. Bug, who was in sixth grade at the time, had previously come out as non-binary, but this felt like an even bigger step.
"We started talking about, like, 'What are you wanting to have happen? What do you need to be supported?'" J said. "And he asked to get health care."
Bug is a nickname, and his mother asked NPR to identify Bug that way, and identify her by her first initial, J, because the family fears harassment.
This was the kind of moment J had been anticipating for a while. She felt immensely grateful that the family had left Texas in 2024, and resettled in western Massachusetts, a state with laws that she felt were more supportive of bodily autonomy, and a culture more welcoming of diverse lifestyles.