While her friends go on vacations and plan trips to Disney World, 14-year-old Harleigh Walker spends her free time fighting for her right to exist.
In between homework and listening to Taylor Swift records, Walker sends videos and letters to Alabama lawmakers in hopes of educating them about the lives of trans youth. Her home state is currently weighing HB 266, which would prohibit gender-affirming medications from being administered to minors under the age of 19, and she took time out of her spring break this week to join activists at the Alabama State Capitol on Wednesday to lobby against the legislation.
If HB 266 were to become law, Walker would immediately lose access to the medication she’s been taking for five years. Because halting treatment is not an option for her, she says her family would have to leave Alabama and start over in another state.
“I’ve lived here my…
