Personalizing a divisive political issue at the same time the U.S. Supreme Court upheld aggressive state-level legislation that bans gender-affirming care for minors, “Just Kids” invites audiences to get two know three teenagers trying to live in harmony while feeling like they do not belong in their own bodies. The documentary’s format may be conventional — featuring camera-facing talking heads and interviews with the central trio and their families — but it still makes a powerful, humanizing case for those impacted by the decision.
The film is credited to the Toboni sisters, Gianna (who directed) and Jacqueline (one of its producers). Their script, co-written with Samantha Wender, identifies the 2015 Supreme Court decision to legalize same sex marriage as the spark that brought together the Christian right-wing political machine to deny trans people the medical care they seek. As experts, civil rights activists and medical professionals explain, gender-affirming care became the target of an ideological legislation war after that major milestone.
The film’s teenage protagonists represent a range of backgrounds and experiences. In South Carolina, the audience meets 15-year-old Joplin, who idolizes their gun-wielding veteran father. In Waco, Texas, there’s 17-year-old Alazaiah, a bubbly and positive TikToker with sparkles in her hair. Elsewhere in Texas, the film showcases 14-year-Tristan, whose single mother desperately tries to make enough to take care of her two children.
All three are shown to have full and thriving lives at school and at home. The film follows its subjects and their families as the teens take the preliminary steps in their transition journey. It’s refreshing to see that each comes from a supportive home — a surprising but welcome contrast with so many queer narratives in which young people try to find acceptance from their kin and community.
“Just Kids” makes a strong counterargument for those who seek to limit such teens’ rights by privileging their perspectives, emphasizing how all they want is to live on their own terms. The historical, social and medical context sometimes comes in rather dry facts, but the protagonists’ reactions make these details visceral.
For example, the film shares that there are some 200,000 internal refugees within the United States, comprising the largest internal migration since the Dust Bowl era of the 1930s. These families had to leave their homes and move to states that accept their children. However, the film shows the toll of laws changing, medical care refused, bills piling up, threats from neighbors, abusive phone calls and hateful treatment from schoolmates. All of it becomes emotionally potent when seen through the subjects’ eyes.
A heartbreaking scene in which a doctor informs one of the kids via Zoom about how the new laws impact their treatment plays almost like a breakup and leaves a lasting impression. The doctor was prohibited from continuing to provide gender-affirming care, which meant they had to leave the patient’s home state and can no longer provide medical assistance across state lines. As the kid’s tear-filled face fills the frame, the tragic effect of these laws becomes palpably clear.
Elsewhere, “Just Kids” shows evidence of injustice with the threat of Child Protective Services investigations hovering over these three loving families. Escape is the solution for some; fighting in court is the choice another family makes.
After reaching that emotional apex about three quarters in, “Just Kids” can’t offer anything on the same strong level in its last section. The film seems long, as if it’s stuck in one spot, repetitively cycling through the same issues. Perhaps that’s because the story is still unfolding and these young people are only now starting their lives. “Just Kids” covers just one year of time, after all. Still, it finds catharsis in showing them move forward, receiving and giving back love as they go. The film’s tone remains hopeful, despite the adversity faced by its protagonists.
“Just Kids” shows with clarity the effects of laws on the lives of young trans people. It questions, through the protagonists’ testimony, what lawmakers mean when they say they seek to “protect the children.” In fact, as the film demonstrates by showing the disruption and chaos brought to these families, such efforts feel more like political posturing. The film might be modest in its cinematic ambitions, but its message aims to change minds and eventually lives.
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