When Julia Bernards felt prompted to go back to school for a graduate degree in Marriage and Family Therapy (MFT) as her youngest began school in 2015, she didn’t realize how personally meaningful her training would become.
Julia and Sam Bernards raised their four kids, Emma–22, Carol–19, Thea–17, and Isaac–13, firmly in the LDS church. Despite growing up in the diverse city of Nashville, TN, Julia’s studies to become an MFT “opened my eyes again in new ways to diversity, and the importance of honoring and validating people’s experiences that are different than mine.” This new paradigm, in fact, shifted the entire Bernards household, as Julia brought home topics she was learning about. Family discussions began to address the Black Lives Matter movement, LGBTQ+ issues, culture, privilege and women’s rights. While her training opened the door for more expansive thinking, it was still a shock to Julia and Sam when their eldest made an unexpected post on the family group chat at the age of 19.
Emma was “that wonderful kind of kid who makes parents proud. Always loving to siblings and dedicated to God and the gospel. If she was having a bad day, she was the, ‘I just need to go read my scriptures and things will go better’ type,” says Julia. Julia remembers a couple times when Emma made derogatory asides (like “that’s so gay”) about the queer community, which felt out of character for someone so loving and kind. So Julia didn’t expect it when Emma revealed to her parents that she was bisexual. But there was more to come. A few months later, in December 2019, Julia picked up Emma from her BYU dorm to bring her home for Sunday dinner and family council. During the drive, Emma posted a four-panel comic on the extended family group chat. The captions read, “So, uh,/ there’s this girl/ and, uh/ She’s me!” The Bernards family council took an interesting turn that night as Emma (who was assigned male at birth) confirmed she identifies as female.
“Because of my training, I was aware of trans people, but it had never occurred to me that this strait-laced, black-and-white thinking kind of child would come out as trans. I was in shock. My brain could not process.” Julia recalls how each of their kids had different reactions, all revealing of their inner worlds. “Our second oldest, Carol, was like, ‘Cool, interesting, it’s good to know this about you. Thanks for telling us’.” (Emblematic of her low-key, open nature.) Third down the line, Thea – who was already identifying (privately) as gay -- excitedly said, “Congrats, that’s so awesome, I’m so glad you came out” -- a reaction Sam and Julia found odd at the time, but now realize may have been prompted by relief to have a queer sibling to pave the way. Julia says their youngest child, Isaac, “was devastated because he’d always felt close to his older (brother at the time). They had shared a room, and Emma had always been so loving to Isaac. Now Isaac felt he was losing his brother.”
Later that night, Julia and Sam were at a loss, wondering what to do. Not having the benefit of the training Julia had undergone, Sam had a hard time understanding Emma’s transgender identity. Even with her training, Julia felt blindsided. “As an MFT, we don’t work with our own families – it’s too personal. With clients, I can be more objective and let them make their own decisions and offer reflection without saying, ‘This is what you need to do’… With Emma, I was juggling shock, fear, grief, and a sense of ‘Does she even know what she’s talking about’?” But that night when Emma declared, “I know you’ll always love me. And I know you can’t accept this,” Julia strongly protested. She knew that if Emma felt rejected, it would lead to estrangement and heartache. She assured Emma, “We do accept you; we’ll be with you on this path.” But in her heart, Julia was thinking, “What do I say, and what can I do?”
The next morning, she took that question to the temple: What do I do? As Julia sat and pondered, she received a clear answer, “Your job as a mom is to love, accept, and support your child.” When she thought about questions she wanted to ask and possible push-back on Emma’s conclusions, Julia received guiding pressure back to the simple direction that she needed to “love, accept and support.” In retrospect, she felt, “I believe I was being guided away from fear-based thoughts and such and toward faith-based, love-based understandings.” The wrestle continued for two hours, and Julia reports it still occurred after that day. But she committed to let go of her own fears and agenda and align with the simplicity of her edict: to love, accept and support.
Emma had always been an amazing student and had received a four-year, full-tuition scholarship at BYU. When her grades substantially deteriorated earlier in 2019, it had signaled a serious depression and Julia had helped her find a therapist. Over the course of that therapy to work through the depression, Emma learned to love and accept herself. She also decided to finally face some of the deeper issues with which she had silently wrestled her whole life. That process became a quest to know herself and culminated in a clear understanding that she was transgender. Following her coming out, Julia sought another therapist who could work with Emma, particularly on gender. It didn’t go as planned, though. Julia laughs that when she and Emma met with the therapist, he said, “So you know your gender is female, you’re doing well emotionally, your parents accept this and support you? Great, my work here is done.
Because she was 19, Emma was legally able to start hormone therapy. Eager to begin her transition, she seized the initiative, navigating the requisite insurance carriers, doctors and therapists within weeks. Watching this process and transition was a struggle for her dad, as fatherhood is a deeply special and sacred role for Sam. He grieved seeing Emma abandon that opportunity. He continued to love and walk with her on her journey, however, drawing strength from an experience he had at a conference put on by Encircle shortly after Emma came out. (cont’d)
While sitting in a session, an image came to his mind—a vast, dark whirlwind, a vortex circling down into the depths of darkness. He recognized that everyone in the world is within that vortex, and perhaps we move up and down, but we’re all having this mortal experience full of challenges and difficulties. And no matter where we are, Christ is with each of us individually. And He wants to be. Sam realized, “If Christ is going to walk my daughter’s journey with her, wherever that leads, and if I want to be like Christ, why would I not make that my journey, too?” That day, Sam decided that despite his grief and confusion, he would just love Emma and walk with her. It has also helped Sam to lean on Julia, who is nearing completion of her PhD and currently writing her dissertation about LDS parents’ process in accepting a transgender child.
Of parents’ process with a queer child, Julia says, “When something shifts in how we conceptualize our lives and the people we’re most attached to, it takes time to relearn and get grounding underneath us. We have to learn a new structure of our life, our relationships, the people we love. That loss and rebuilding is what we know as grief. For some parents, the grief came prior – seeing a child in so much pain, or suicidal. Some have already lost so much of the sense of their child’s well-being. Sometimes, when a kid comes out as trans, it feels like putting the pieces back together. It took me months of trying to put my world back together.”
Emma came out as trans just a few days before her final interview to go on a mission, something she’d always really wanted to do. She’d also loved doing baptisms at the temple and was looking forward to receiving her endowment. The temple was an important place for her as it was there that she had prayed and pondered about her gender identity, feeling she couldn’t be deceived there. In the temple, she felt God affirm and embrace this part of her. But at the bequest of well-meaning leaders, her mission and endowment were put on hold, and then a new church handbook came out that made such opportunities impossible for those who are transitioning. (cont’d)
Julia and Sam decided to take it upon themselves to tell Emma this, during a last trip to the temple together to do baptisms. Julia says, “It was quite the paradox to have a revelation she received in the temple then exclude her from being able to go to the temple again.”
Together, Emma and Julia wrote a letter to their ward council explaining Emma’s transgender identity and found their leadership and friends to be remarkably loving and accepting. Despite this support, about a year later, Emma told her parents she’d really been struggling with the church and even believing in God. She no longer wanted to participate in family prayers and scripture study and has stepped away from the church. But the family remains tightknit, and Emma’s experiences have prompted a faith journey for the family.
Julia reasons, “I thought we really need to be figuring out religion in new ways that allow my children to feel loved, and to potentially still have a relationship with God. We can transcend LDS beliefs to get to the roots of what we believe. A deeper faith crisis happened for me, too, which had me questioning all my beliefs, and led to lots of wonderful reading -- some I share with my kids. This continues, but I’m getting to a firmer place with some grounding. Sometimes I’ve worried that my own faith struggles would hurt my children instead of helping them, but I can’t be any mother other than the one that I am.”
Emma found BYU to not be the best fit and transferred to the University of Utah where she is now enjoying an active social life with the queer community. Emma is studying history and minoring in human rights. Her parents have enjoyed watching her blossom socially as she’s become more authentically herself.
Carol had a boyfriend for several years, during which time her disinterest in physical affection helped her identify as aromantic and asexual. She now attends UVU, where she plans to major in Entertainment Design. “Amazingly imaginative with an active inner-world,” Julia says Carol is an artist and her family’s “animal whisperer.” She has a strong self-image, and says if she could change anything about herself, “she’d love to have wings.”
Thea has officially come out as gay and identifies as gender queer. With a second queer-identifying child, Julia wondered what their ward community would think. “Now Thea’s out fully, but it was a rough time emotionally.” Julia has been impressed with how Thea has navigated things and acknowledges the influence of Thea’s wonderful group of friends – many of whom are also queer. They love to watch Star Wars, sing Disney songs, and play Dungeons and Dragons. Julia describes Thea as a “really smart, capable kid, who’d love to be a pilot or astronaut and is intrigued by Space.”
Isaac attends church with his parents (where Julia is a Sunday School teacher and Sam is an EQ secretary). Isaac is the Deacons’ quorum president and does “typical middle school boy stuff -- he skateboards, likes hanging out with friends, loves basketball.” He once asked, “Am I weird in this family because I’m not queer?” To which a sister replied, “You do you.” Isaac can often be found wearing his favorite black hoodie with rainbow print that says, “Black lives matter, Science is real, Love is love, etc.”
Most of the Bernards’ extended family has shown them support, though there has been a learning curve for some of the older generation. Julia has shared resources with their parents, and is grateful every time they see a heart change. Emma’s parents were touched when some of the aunts and uncles sent her gifts like jewelry, dresses, and “pretty things” during her transition.
Of their spiritual journey, Julia says, “We’ve kept a lot of our family practices but transformed them to some degree. We look at studying truth over just scripture, as well as resources from different faiths and perspectives. I think it’s been good to continue our spiritual practices, and also to let our kids ask questions and not think everything that’s taught at church is perfect and infallible. That they can receive revelation and light and truth for themselves. And we can recognize it through the Spirit because of how it feels. Our story is open-ended. But this is where we are.”
