Foreword by Jazz and Jeanette Jennings

In the early 2000s, when we began our journey as a very young trans child and her family, we felt so alone and isolated. There were no books about transgender or nonbinary kids, almost no resources, and barely any positive representation in the media. It was like we had no echo. Our first chance to be part of a community, a place where we might be able to be ourselves and connect with others who mirrored our experience, was a family picnic hosted by a local LGBTQ center. We were so excited to be a part of a community, a place where we felt that we could be ourselves and bond with others who mirrored our experience. Unfortunately, there were no other transgender kids at the event. All the kids were cisgender children of same-sex couples. We felt so out of place. So disappointed. We just wanted to belong somewhere . . . anywhere.

Those early years were tough. Our family was on a long journey with no map, no compass, no captain, and other than our therapist, no one to guide us. Then the discrimination began. Bathrooms became inaccessible. The bullying surfaced, and the silence continued.

It’s a very long story, but the producers of the popular ABC television news show 20/20 heard about our family and the fact that we had a five-year-old transgender daughter. They presented our family with the opportunity to share our story publicly. We resisted. We were asked again and again, but the idea of putting ourselves out there on national television to expose a reality that was unknown but frowned upon by so many was terrifying.

After about a year of contemplating, we finally decided to move forward with appearing on 20/20, but only if the renowned journalist Barbara Walters would do the interview with our family. Our entire family participated because we wanted to show the importance of love and support for a transgender child. In our heart of hearts, we know we made the right choice so many years ago. The world needed to know that transgender children like me (Jazz) exist and are special and beautiful. Most importantly, we wanted other families like ours to know they were not alone.

From that moment forward, a tidal wave of families with young transgender children came forward. It reminded us of the scene from The Wizard of Oz when the Munchkins felt safe enough to abandon their hiding places and reveal themselves. We learned about the immense power of visibility. To us, visibility provides knowledge, and without both visibility and knowledge, we can’t expect the world to change.

Authentic Selves is a perfect and fantastic ensemble book that truly embodies the importance of visibility and the power of love. Love glows from every page. The reader is invited into a world of families, biological, adoptive, and chosen, that may be very different from their own, and in doing so, provides a new perspective. Learning more about people of different gender identities, expressions, and experiences and different ways of being a family help those of us who are trans and nonbinary to see that we belong to a larger community and that there are so many unique ways to express our authentic selves and live authentic lives. For those of us who are cisgender, it gives us a chance to deepen our understanding of, connections with, and empathy for our trans and nonbinary family, friends, and acquaintances.

In this foreword, the word alone is mentioned quite a lot, because both our family and the contributors to Authentic Selves want others to know they are not alone. Helping to create a safer world for trans and nonbinary children and adults and their families is why we have continued to live our lives so publicly and why we want to add our voices of praise to this powerful book. We decided to write this foreword because, like everyone who chose to be part of Authentic Selves, we want to celebrate love. Being a part of a loving family of any kind means you are a branch in a beautiful tree that will embrace you for the rest of your life.

Sharing true stories is often the only way we can connect deeply and authentically as humans. Real stories of lived experience give readers a chance to learn from other peoples’ experiences and in doing so can shape, strengthen, or challenge our opinions and values. Authentic Selves offers readers an opportunity to grow both spiritually and emotionally and to gain amazing insight into how to take action to protect trans and nonbinary rights.

Thank you, Peggy Gillespie for your heartfelt interviews and your vision to create Authentic Selves. And thank you to all the terrific photographers, and to everyone who was interviewed and photographed for this book, for creating a gorgeous visual gift, because sometimes words alone just aren’t enough. Visibility matters!