We have seen them all. Photo ops reveal the genre started to pick up steam in 2016. Not a day went by without seeing your distant cousin release a dozen pink balloons into the stratosphere on Facebook. Ideas range from self-important, obscure to irresponsible.
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Overall, the LGBTQ+ community has ignored this practice from the start. Not only does it reinforce outdated gender tropes, it also reinforces the idea that your gender identity is fixed. Decided before they are born and entirely dependent on the color of your cake batter.
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Every once in a while though, something beautiful can come out of the most tired internet trend. Like when Julie Hindsley decided to celebrate her 6-year-old trans daughter, Ella. “I wanted to have that photoshoot and remember that moment because it was so huge for Ella,” Hindsley said.
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Amid the vitriol and negativity directed at trans people online, it’s truly heartwarming to see a young family celebrating their trans daughter with such enthusiasm. The photos feature the family gathering around Ella, holding familiar “girl or boy” banners and setting off poppers. According to her mother, it was “like she was meant to be Ella all her life and we had been so wrong before.”
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Other photos show Ella on her dad’s shoulders, cuddling next to her proud mom and sitting with her brother. “We told her and her brother that we were going to have a photoshoot to celebrate her now as Ella because it was beautiful,” her mother said. Ella, of course, had a blast, but she was “already living like herself in front of all of our closest friends and family for the past few months.”
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The Texas-based family have faced ‘unpleasant’ comments since their daughter’s social transition, but the Hindsleys are undeterred. With this gender reveal, Julie hopes to help other families go through the same thing with their child. “I thought celebrating her in this way would help her understand that there’s absolutely nothing wrong with who she is,” she said.
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It’s clear that Ella doesn’t have time to wonder who she is. She is Ella. She’s six years old and she’s from Texas. So unfurl the baby blue banner and pink confetti. One or two clichés can be forgiven in the name of trans self-determination.
Stunning photography by Heather Harris Witt, HWM Photography on Facebook and Instagram.
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