BURLESON, Texas — Mother and child duo India and Ezra Garms have the kind of relationship many teenagers would envy.
“Ezra is my inspiration,” said India Garms about her 13-year-old. “I had Ezra when I was 16, almost 17. My goal as a parent was just to create a childhood they didn’t have to recover from.”
The Garms were just two of many to sit down and share for the “Tell Me A Story, Texas” series I have the honor of producing and hosting.
This series focuses on my belief that everyone has a story, and if you give people the opportunity to share, under the right circumstances, they will.
I’m bringing a small, very comfortable, floral-printed couch to events in cities across Texas and asking random people to sit down and tell me a story; whatever it is they’d like to share.
This Pride Month, Spectrum News 1 is sharing actual stories from proud queer Texans.
For this project, I set up my “conversation couch” and cameras at Dallas Pride, held in Fair Park the first weekend in June. Thousands showed up to celebrate during the two-day event in the same location where the Texas State Fair takes place.
I’d had a full day of couch conversations when the Garms decided to sit down. The two had introduced themselves earlier in the day and asked if they could participate. I had to ask them to come back more than an hour later since I had a line of people eager to share.
I scheduled them a time to come back and was worried they might not. I was very excited when they showed up early. I’m glad they were patient because I really enjoyed getting to know them.
The two have a special bond, but as I learned, it is best not to call them "friends."
“We can be friends once you’re 18, trademark that,” said India to Ezra as she giggled, and Ezra rolled their eyes playfully. “I think parenting has to come first to help during those difficult and uncomfortable decisions.”
Even though they have that understanding, Ezra says they’re besties in training. They love a lot of the same things and enjoy hanging out with each other. Ezra said they can talk about anything with each other.
“We just went to a Doja Cat concert together, which was so fun,” said India. “We’re talking about going to Anime Fest together at the end of the summer.” That’s something India’s mom would have never enjoyed sharing with her as a teenager. “My mom wouldn’t have even tried to pronounce the word Anime,” said India.
Because they “get each” according to Ezra, one topic that wasn’t hard to talk about was Ezra coming out as transgender. It’s a feeling they’d felt for years but weren’t sure about.
“I remember people calling me a ‘tomboy’ in elementary school,” said Ezra. “So that’s what I always thought of myself as.”
Ezra said it took them a while to realize they felt most comfortable using they/them or he/him pronouns.
Their gender identity, or lack thereof, is just one aspect of who they are as a person. They’re an artist, who loves all things anime, and just like their mom prides themselves in being creative.
“I wear whatever makes me feel comfortable,” said Ezra. “I love wearing make-up when I’m cosplaying, and as much as I identify as male, I absolutely love the color pink and all things cute.”
Ezra’s room is painted a bright shade of pink, their bed is covered with a pink strawberry-print bedspread and strawberry shaped pillows.
In their first year of being a teenager, Ezra said they’re proud of who they are and believes having parents who support their freedom of expression helps a lot.
Even though Ezra feels comfortable in their own skin, they know not everybody will except their expression while living in the small town of Burleson, Texas.
Ezra has classmates who tease and question their pronouns as a joke. They also know of classmates who are scared to come out as LGBTQ+.
“I do have a few friends who feel like they just can’t be who they are,” said Ezra “I tell them, ‘I accept you, for you and if you ever need anybody to lean on, I’m here for you.’”
Over the years, India and her husband James Patterson have let Ezra experiment with the way they present, throwing gender norms out the window.
“When they wanted to play pretend, and they wanted to be Spider-Man, I would have never in my wildest dreams said, ‘No, you should try Spider-Woman,’” said India.
James has always considered himself an ally and believes one role of an ally is making sure the coming-out process is easy for those still closeted.
“I think it’s important for those in support of the LGBT community to stand up,” said James. “People need to speak out to their best level of comfort in support of those in states where trans people’s freedoms are being threatened.”
India said she feels lucky to have a kid like Ezra who’s not afraid of being true to themselves even though they get backlash from some of their classmates.
“I’m so proud of them,” said India. “I can’t believe that this person I was just beginning to know when I was a teenager myself has become so brave and so strong and certain of themselves. I’m really proud of the path that Ezra is on.”
This Pride Month was Ezra’s first time celebrating, and the experience reminded them of one thing; “That it’s OK to be different,” said Ezra, “because without people like me, without diversity, the world would probably be boring.”
At just 13 years old, Ezra doesn’t know exactly what their future holds. They couldn’t answer what their dream job would be, but knows for sure they don’t want to work in retail.
One thing they are certain of, however, is a desire to inspire others to be 100% authentic, just like them.
If you have an interesting story, or an issue you’d like to see covered, let us know about it.
Share your ideas with DFW human interest reporter Lupe Zapata by emailing him at Lupe.Zapata@Charter.com.