Podcast overview
Conversations about transgender youth and gender identity increasingly unfold in a highly polarized climate, where deeply personal decisions get pulled into cultural and political conflict. Behind those debates — and ongoing threats to the rights, safety, and well-being of transgender people — are real families trying to support their children and make decisions without the benefit of certainty. In this episode, Leigh talks with Bree Rose about her family’s path after her child, Storm, began questioning their gender identity at age 12.
Ultimately, the episode explores a question that reaches well beyond parenting: how do we lead with love and grace when there’s no consensus on the right answer? They explore a question that reaches beyond parenting: how do we lead with love and grace when there’s no consensus on the right answer? Bree and Leigh talk about staying grounded in values that don’t bend, exercising judgment when there is no roadmap, and lessons she learned dealing with judgement from multiple sides.
Note: Bree, Storm, and their family have given permission for their story to be told. Next week’s bonus episode features Storm themself, who shares their insights with similar clarity and warmth.
In This Conversation
Leigh and Bree explore:
- Loving a child without having all the answers. Bree shares her initial uncertainty when Storm began questioning their gender and how she learned to shift from trying to “solve” the situation to listening, learning, and accompanying her child.
- Supporting identity while navigating parental responsibility. Bree and her husband supported Storm’s exploration of gender identity while deciding they needed more time before making decisions about certain types of medical care — a choice they made thoughtfully as a family.
- Living with other people’s judgments. Bree describes criticism and exclusion from people who felt her family wasn’t supporting Storm enough or, in the right way — and how many families often face the opposite: harsh judgment and discrimination for supporting a transgender child’s identity at all.
- Making room for different choices. Their conversation examines how polarization can turn complicated, deeply personal decisions into harmful tests of allegiance, and why people who care about human dignity can disagree but still center the flouring and wellbeing of young people and their chosen expressions.
Practices for Navigating Complexity
Get curious before trying to solve. When something challenges your assumptions, resist the urge to immediately fix or define it; listen, learn, and seek to understand what is actually needed.
Return to what you know matters. Bree kept a written inventory of what she loved and admired about her children, helping her reconnect with what mattered when she felt uncertain or judged.
Ask: stop, start, continue. Bree used this simple practice with Storm to identify what was not working, what might help, and what they wanted to preserve—creating clearer choices without assuming she already knew the answer.
Put your agency where it can make a difference. When national debates began to feel overwhelming, Bree focused more of her energy locally, choosing a form of advocacy where she felt she could contribute meaningfully.
Why This Matters NOW
Polarization encourages certainty: choose a side, defend it, and distrust people who choose differently. Real life—and leadership—often asks something harder of us. We can hold firm to human dignity and our deepest values while recognizing complexity, extending grace, and remaining open to the possibility that thoughtful people may take different paths. Bree’s story offers a deeply human example of what that can look like in practice.
About Bree Rose
Bree Rose is a Seattle-area leader, advocate, philanthropy impact advisor, and certified Dare to Lead™ facilitator whose professional experience spans finance, leadership development, and community engagement. She is also active as a volunteer supporting the autism community, and brings a strong commitment to service, empathy, and helping people thrive to both her professional work and her life as a parent.
