For some parents of trans kids, leaving America no longer feels unthinkable

For most of his life, Jose Trujillo believed the United States was where his family would build its future.A naturalized citizen born in Mexico, Trujillo spent years advocating for his transgender son, Daniel, now 17. He attended legislative hearings. He spoke publicly. He joined other parents fighting to preserve access to gender-affirming care and basic legal protections for transgender young people.By the end of The Dads, the new feature documentary executive produced by NBA Hall of Famer Dwyane Wade, the Trujillos are gone — among the first families in the film to leave the country altogether."We came to a point where we realized it wasn't going to be safe for our family anymore," Trujillo says in the film. "It wasn't going to be safe for Daniel anymore."His wife, Lizette, names the fear that finally pushed them out: that gender-affirming care could be criminalized retroactively, and that her husband's citizenship could be weaponized against him. "What if they criminalize care and then they tell my husband, well, your child has received gender-affirming care, and so therefore you've committed a crime, and now this crime gives us reason to denaturalize you?" she asks. "But then what happens to my child?"Directed by Emmy Award-winning filmmaker Luchina Fisher, The Dads expands on her Emmy-winning 2023 Netflix short of the same name. The film, which premiered at SXSW in March to strong reviews, follows a community of fathers of transgender and nonbinary children over the course of a single, whiplash-inducing year: from cautiously optimistic retreats in rural Maine and Minnesota, through the 2024 election, a cascade of executive orders under President Donald Trump, the collapse of gender-affirming care at hospitals even in blue states, and the U.S. Supreme Court's decision in Skrmetti, upholding Tennessee's ban on care for minors.Related: Dwyane Wade and transgender daughter Zaya launch new resource for trans youth and families "We were never trying to make it abo