Watch: Trans man who aged out of Texas foster care says politicians are vilifying LGBTQ+ kids
As Kayden Asher tumbled through several foster placements, Texas leaders intensified their efforts to regulate the lives of LGBTQ+ people. Full Story
![Kayden Asher poses for a potrait on Nov. 19, 2023. Asher was placed under the care of the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services at 15, after coming out as a trans man. He says he was discriminated against during his time in DFPS. Before his 18th birthday, he asked to be moved to Austin, where he found an affirming placement and was able to start hormone therapy.](https://thumbnails.texastribune.org/MXyEa8KNld2g8gEmgsIJO8os4E4=/850x570/smart/filters:quality(75)/https://static.texastribune.org/media/files/67f48c23e3b5fb4054fcc15704b1ad8c/1119%20Trans%20Foster%20Youth%20GDGV%20TT%2003.jpg)
William Melhado is an Austin-based general assignment reporter. He originally joined the Tribune in 2022 as a Poynter-Koch fellow. He previously worked as a staff writer at the Santa Fe Reporter, an alt-weekly newspaper in New Mexico. Before pursuing a career in journalism, William worked as an educator for five years and taught science at a public high school in the Bronx, New York and taught at international schools in Tanzania and Nepal. A native of Boulder, Colorado, William graduated from Middlebury College with a bachelor's degree in chemistry and earned a master’s in secondary science education at CUNY Lehman College.
As Kayden Asher tumbled through several foster placements, Texas leaders intensified their efforts to regulate the lives of LGBTQ+ people. Full Story
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