The documentary “Love to the Max” captures one family’s determination to live authentically in an anti-trans political climate.

Film by Tanya Selvaratnam and Rose Bush
Text by Emily Witt

One day in late February of 2022, Amber Briggle received a phone call from the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services. It was a caseworker, informing her that allegations of child abuse had been filed against her and her husband, Adam, and that the state would be imminently inspecting their home and interviewing their children. The Briggles, who live in North Texas, are the parents of two children. Their eldest, Max, was fourteen at the time and is trans; their daughter, Lulu, was nine. A few days before the phone call, Ken Paxton, the attorney general of Texas, had issued an opinion equating gender-affirming care for transgender youth with child abuse; this was quickly followed by a directive from Governor Greg Abbott to investigate parents seeking out so-called “abusive” gender-transition health care for their children.