Jessicka Spearman grew up with her aunt who was transgender in South Carolina in the 90s. She was around 12-years-old at the time, but Spearman knew her aunt was fierce, and admirable. Spearman called her the “glue of the family,” someone that held it all together.
“There was not a part of her I did not love,” Spearman told GLAAD. “She taught me what unconditional love was.”
The Anderson County mother of four remembers her aunt with joy, smiling as she mentions her.
Spearman’s relationship to her aunt opened up her world, informing how she would parent her children. When Spearman and her husband Eric Childs decided to parent their children together, it meant giving their children the autonomy to explore who they’d become. Spearman and Childs knew that they would help guide, and advocate for their children so much so that when their child told them he’s transgender, they knew exactly what to do: love him, and accept him.
After a public testimony in support of his transgender child went viral, Childs and his wife were thrusted into the spotlight. Now, Spearman carries her husband’s legacy.
On October 22, the Gender Research Advisory Council + Education (GRACE), a transgender-led national nonprofit organization promoting equality, dignity, and respect for transgender individuals, released a new public service announcement (PSA) and video entitled Freedom, Love and Liberty which features Childs, also a former Operation Iraqi Freedom veteran.
After filming this PSA, Childs passed away in a tragic accident. His death happened only days after the governor of his state signed anti-transgender laws into place. He courageously served in the US Army’s 10th Division and was a strong advocate in South Carolina for trans children and their parents
This poignant PSA is being released on the heels of a $65M anti-trans TV ad campaign blitz by anti-LGBTQ candidates for Senate across the country, as well as by Donald Trump, and GRACE hopes it will bring an overlooked, important perspective to the conversation: trans people and their families, reads GRACE’s release of the video.
In the PSA, Childs unequivocally states, “To me, serving my country was defense of freedom, fighting for democracy, defending our country in its entirety after we’d been attacked. Freedom means liberty. It means the ability to live your life as you see fit. Life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. And I wanted that for my children one day.”
For Spearman, the video brings up much of the love she shared with her husband, and her family. She hopes peoples’ take away from the PSA is that she and her kids “are just a normal family like every other family.”
“What I want people to remember about Eric, as far as within our community, is that he loved beyond measure, that he stood for, stood up, and spoke when people felt like they didn’t have a voice, or they weren’t safe enough to have a voice,” Spearman said of her late-husband.
The PSA shows Childs speaking out against the banning of gender affirming care for minors, calling the vitriolic messaging, and trans healthcare bans like H.4624 a “government overreach.” That overreach, and oppression go against conservative values, believed Childs. Spearman and her husband began speaking out at hearings, public forums, eventually entering into politics. The father vowed to dedicate himself to protecting the oppressed that H.4624 aimed to attack.
“The politicization of the transgender community has always been one of distraction from more relevant issues. We have politicians who talk about freedom and liberty for everyone while publicly doing all they can to marginalize and erase transgender citizens. The deliberate untruths they put forth are in direct contrast to our founding fathers’ vision and American values these politicians say they stand for,” GRACE founder and President Alaina Kupec, a veteran and former US Naval Intelligence Officer, said in a press release.
Transgender advocates like Spearman fought off the gender affirming care ban as long as they could. In fact, South Carolina was one of the last states to impose a gender affirming care ban, joining half the country earlier this year. Since 2021, 24 states have banned hormone therapy for transgender youth with gender dysphoria, according to the ACLU.
Spearman said that Child’s love was indiscriminate of gender identity, and that he had a desire to “be present for those who may not have a father… who may not have a family that is supportive.”
So the couple made the decision to run for public office. Spearman remains in the race for State Senate of District 3 against the incumbent candidate Sen. Richard Cash.
After debating transgender health care misconceptions held by Cash that were not grounded in scientific evidence-based research, she shares.
“I didn’t feel heard as the parent of a trans child,” Spearman said. “Our government is supposed to be representative of all of its constituents, which includes my child and other trans children within Anderson County. That was the moment I decided to run because we need equal representation.”
Healthcare for transgender youth, including the use of puberty blockers and hormone therapy, is a best practice backed by scientific evidence and endorsed by leading medical organizations. However, the best practice is not recommended for youth under 18-years-old, making bans like this unnecessary, dangerous, and a waste of public resources. Before turning 18, transgender children need to work towards what they are ready for and prepare for becoming an adult.
Research shows that access to trans healthcare greatly improves well being and mental health of trans, nonbinary and gender diverse patients, according to Columbia University Psychiatry.
“I would love [winning] to be a reality, knowing the community that I do live in, and knowing how accepting and loving, and the values that our community embodies. I think that would be amazing,” Spearman said.
Childs ran for a similar reason, to challenge anti-trans politicians on a state-wide scale.
He and Spearman were on a plane to DC, taking their first vacation without their children. On their way, they got a message that the transgender healthcare ban (that is now law) was to be heard in the House of Representatives. Knowing that Sen. Cash wouldn’t listen to the couple, Childs called Rep. April Cromer. When she thanked Childs for his military service, Cromer also said she had a difference of opinion, and was in support of the ban.
Spearman won’t forget what Childs said.
“‘Opinions are not what’s important [at] this moment. What’s important is that our child has adequate health care,’” Spearman remembers Childs saying. “And that’s when he was like: ‘you’re gonna run and I’m running too, and I’ll run against her.’”
Childs will be remembered for his sacrifices and impact in the state of South Carolina. Spearman speaks from both her husband’s memory and her heart when she tells South Carolina families that the best thing you can do for your children is love them as they are.