Transgender adults in red states fear for the next generation as political attacks accelerate

Raised on her family’s farm in conservative Nebraska in the 1960s and ’70s, Ashley Swartz took her cues about life from her surroundings: At home, the men worked the farm; elsewhere, boys roughhoused and participated in sports; at church, there was good and there was evil.

Swartz identified more with girls — wanting to play the female roles when playing make-believe and wishing to be considered pretty rather than handsome. At the time, and for years to come, she buried her feelings, thinking them the work of the devil. She prayed to accept herself as the boy the world saw rather than the girl she believed she was.

“I always felt trapped and suffocated. I felt trapped in a life that made no sense to me,” Swartz, now 61, said.

Swartz, like many older transgender Americans, had hoped their younger counterparts would not be faced with the same challenges and despair. But now, watching growing political attacks and legislative efforts targeting trans people, she is fearful about what the future holds for the next generation, particularly those living in politically conservative states.