Popular San Antonio sports radio host Mike Taylor has become a well known advocate and voice for transgender children and families.
Taylor has been a local radio staple for more than a decade. For years, he lived in San Antonio and Austin, doing his show on Ticket 760. But about two years ago, his family moved more than 3,000 miles away to live in Hawaii, in part to protect his young transgender son MJ.
“Two and a half years ago, when we made this decision, Texas didn’t have any laws on the books that would protect us from future discrimination. Now they’re trying to pass laws that would absolutely totally discriminate against us, which is crazy,” Taylor said. “That’s the number one reason why we went, to protect our son from any future discrimination, not from people, but literally from the state, from the laws of the state, which we now have proven out to show that they absolutely are trying to come after our people.”
The latest directive from Gov. Greg Abbott called for abuse investigations into the use of gender-affirming care for transgender children.
A Texas judge issued a statewide halt to those investigations last week, however, Attorney General Ken Paxton tweeted that his office had appealed that ruling late Friday night.
Taylor said it’s difficult to see his son and the trans community continually be attacked.
“I’m a Texas man. I love Texas. I still do. And to know we have leaders in Austin that are trying to pass discriminatory laws, that’s what they are. Discriminatory laws against my son, and maybe even me, is so disheartening and devastating,” Taylor said.
Taylor continues to use his platform to speak out for families of transgender children and he’s also made every effort to clear up misconceptions about the community.
“It’s not a mental disorder. We’re just normal people. That’s the message that I want out there,” Taylor said. “There are people in this state that think that we’re all having underground illegal, unethical surgeries. No one is. We’re normal people.”
All Taylor wants is for his son to grow up as a normal kid. He said he will continue to do his San Antonio and Austin shows from Hawaii until MJ, now 10 years old, can have a normal life in the state he used to call home.
“Everyone that knows him still loves him. He’s beloved here by the people that matter. There’s just a few people that don’t understand us and unfortunately are in a position of power politically,” Taylor said.
He also invites anyone interested in the topic to have a conversation with him.
“I don’t want to fight with anybody. I’m not trying to take a political side. I’m not trying to take a moral side,” Taylor said. “I welcome anybody to call me. I need to let people realize that we just are such a small group of people that we’re not some huge threat. We don’t need laws passed against us to discriminate against us. Whether you will ever totally understand it or not. I need you to understand that this is senseless what’s going on in Austin.”