[Editor’s Note: As a publishing partner with The Charlotte Observer, qnotes is republishing this multi-part storyline so our readers can have direct access to this remarkable feature. It is republished with permission and will be carried on Tuesdays and Thursdays until complete.]
by Anna Douglas, Published in The Charlotte Observer on May 7, Updated on May 10
The Charlotte Observer provided this abbreviated list of resources to accompany #TeamPregnantDad, a five-part news series that follows Liam Johns, a transgender man from Charlotte, on his journey from pregnancy to fatherhood. Time Out Youth of Charlotte Director of Programs and Services O’Neale Atkinson recommended parents and youth alike visit the center’s website for a full list of resources, which is updated as needed.
Time Out Youth of Charlotte opened in 1991 as the city’s first youth center for gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people. It is now the longest-serving youth LGBTQ center in Charlotte and the organization maintains a list of resources in North Carolina that includes LGBTQ support groups, more than 15 LGBTQ-friendly local churches, legal and political advocacy organizations and a directory of health services.
For additional local support resources for parents and loved ones of LGBTQ youth, visit PFLAG Charlotte.
Community groups and centers
Charlotte – Time Out Youth, PFLAG Charlotte peer support groups for families, and Transcend Charlotte
Raleigh – The LGBT Center of Raleigh and iNSIDEoUT, for youth.
Additional locations for parents, adults and children are found through the state, with a list available from Equality NC.
Health care
Charlotte Transgender Health Care Group
Atrium Health Levine Children’s Center for Gender Health, at Teen Health Connection (Opened April 2019. Call 704-381-8382).
National Center for Transgender Equality – Know Your Rights page
The PowerHouse Project (Charlotte-based)
University of California, San Francisco’s Center of Excellence for Transgender Health
Media and social
qnotes – biweekly publication based in Charlotte
Suicide prevention and crisis hotlines
Discrimination, isolation, bullying and rejection from family members often places LGBTQ persons at greater risk of self-harm or suicide. Crisis assistance and 24/7 hotlines are free and widely available.
National helplines include the Trevor Project (1-866-4UTREVOR or 1-866-488-7386); the Trans Lifeline (877-565-8860); National Youth Crisis Hotline (1-800-442-HOPE or 1-800-442-4673); and the National Domestic Violence Hotline (1-800-799-SAFE or 1-800-799-7233).
In Charlotte, crisis response teams are available via the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Crisis Intervention Team and Mecklenburg County Mobile Crisis Unit. The crisis unit hotline is 704-566-3410 (select option 1 after dialing). When dialing 911 in Charlotte in a life-threatening situation, callers may ask for a Crisis Intervention officer or a “C-I-T” officer.
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Liam Johns and husband Duane Danielson challenge one of society’s most ingrained assumptions — that only women give birth. The Charlotte Observer followed the year-long journey of Liam’s pregnancy to fatherhood. (Photo Credit: Diedra Laird | Matt Walsh, The Charlotte Observer)
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Behind The Charlotte Observer‘s Reporting
#TeamPregnantDad
Reporter Anna Douglas and videographer Diedra Laird spent more than a year chronicling the lives of Liam Johns and husband Duane Danielson through Liam’s pregnancy and the birth of their child.
Almost all of the conversations and details in #TeamPregnantDad were personally witnessed by Douglas or Laird. In story scenes containing flashbacks or details the journalists did not witness, the Observer has reconstructed that information following extensive interviews with Liam, Duane, their healthcare providers, friends and family.
Liam had previously been featured in 2016 in an Observer profile called “Becoming Liam,” which was published around the time North Carolina lawmakers passed HB2. The law (which was later repealed) restricted access to public restrooms for transgender people who had transitioned but had not changed the sex listed on their birth certificate.