(NewsNation) – Eleven-year-old Alison Sirivanchai likes what she sees in the mirror when she puts on a flowy dress or after her mother curls her hair.
It’s how she sees herself when she imagines her future, and the news of her identity as transgender came as no surprise to her parents.
“When she told me, ‘Dad, this is who I am,’ I’ve seen her, her whole life and I wasn’t shocked,” Alison’s father, Jesse Sirivanchai said “I wasn’t surprised. I was like, yes, that makes sense. That makes perfect sense.”
The sixth-grader has found herself at the center of conflict in her Utah school district. After previously being allowed to use the girls’ bathroom, the topic became a point of contention at a Sept. 26 Jordan School District meeting, with some parents demanding she use a different bathroom. Footage of Alison’s speech to the board is getting attention online.
“When my loving mom first curled my hair and I looked in the mirror I wanted to cry because I saw not the person I was supposed to be but the person I am,” Alison said into the microphone. “Because when I imagine myself as a grown human, I see a woman dancing in a white dress through a meadow of flowers and when I see that I know that’s who I am.”
Several adults voiced their concerns about policies surrounding transgender students’ bathroom use.
“What happens is that they are allowing anybody to make a claim and this opens up guys that just pose as girls to go into this bathroom and harm girls and that’s a big issue for me as well as other parents,” said Jordan School District parent Rob Sivulka in an interview with NewsNation’s local affiliate ABC4.
It’s an accusation that has never been leveled against the 11-year-old, and it wasn’t easy to hear.
“Alison was trembling,” father Jesse Sirivanchai told NewsNation. “She was shaking badly and I just kept leaning over her and whispering to her that they aren’t talking about her. They’re talking about their fears and that those fears have nothing to do with her.”
The argument has been playing out at school board meetings across the country. Seven states currently have bans to prevent transgender people from using bathrooms and facilities consistent with their gender identity in K-12 schools, according to Movement Advancement Project, which tracks and maps such laws.
Utah isn’t one of those states, meaning Alison has been allowed to use the girls’ bathroom — but not without criticism.
Alison and her father are asking for “space and acceptance” for Alison to be herself.
“I would like the parents to realize that they don’t have anything to fear,” Jesse Sirivanchai said. “Just start to teach your children how to love and not how to hate.”
Alison is like any other kid, her father said. The young girl’s presence at school or in the bathroom between classes serves the same purpose as any other student’s, and her feelings aren’t immune to the commotion her presence has caused.
“I try my hardest to swallow the lumps and to take the hits and I try to be just as kind as possible,” Jesse Sirivanchai said. “Because any time I go on the attack, then they’re just going to use that (to say), ‘Look, this is exactly the kind of person we thought you were.’ I’ve told her, ‘Look, you have to be better than that.'”
Legal battles across the country
Earlier this year, Utah’s Republican Gov. Spencer Cox signed a bill that effectively bans gender-affirming care for people younger than 18 years old.
Federal courts historically haven’t agreed on how Title IX applies to students and the bathrooms they use or what constitutes discrimination based on sex.
Meanwhile, state lawmakers across the country are on track to deliberate a record number of proposals affecting LGBTQ people this year, according to the advocacy nonprofit GLAAD.
Legislators have passed 83 bills impacting the care trans people can receive, the ways they express themselves and the spaces they can occupy.
“There are some really bad numbers, like the number of bills that they’re trying to pass through legislation at the moment,” Sirivanchai said. “But they’re also good numbers. “The majority of Americans still support equal rights.”
Jordan School District didn’t respond to NewsNation’s request for comment, but previously issued the following statement to NewsNation’s local affiliate ABC4:
“Title IX federal law [bans] sex discrimination and harassment related to gender identity in schools. The District works with individual families to provide a safe and welcoming environment for every student. Anyone with concerns on any issue at a school is encouraged to reach out to the school principal.”