Mother, son set to run Chicago Marathon to support movement for trans, nonbinary young people
HIGHLAND PARK, Ill. (CBS) -- This coming Sunday, thousands of runners will hit the streets for the 46th annual Bank of America Chicago Marathon—and a Highland Park mother and her adult son a running for a cause.
Lev Grosshandler and his mother, Jen, are running in support of transgender and nonbinary young people, and a youth-led movement they founded.
Lev admits a marathon is a stretch.
"I'm a wrestler. I'm 190 pounds," he said. "I'm not built to run."
But he and his mom are letting the world know their commitment to completing 26.2 miles.
"If we were just running for ourselves, we would stop," said Lev Grosshandler. "We'd be like: 'This is stupid. Why am I putting myself in pain? I want to go eat a cheeseburger.'"
But instead, they are hoping to take another kind of bite. They are huffing it to tamp down on misconceptions surrounding transgender and nonbinary children.
"We're running for our organization called the GenderCool Project," said Jen Grosshandler.
The Grosshandlers' Highland Park nonprofit shares positive stories about the youngest members of the trans and nonbinary community.
"We don't yell. We aren't interested in raising our voices. That doesn't work," said Jen Grosshandler. "What does work is simply having an opportunity to meet these kids. They're awesome. They're funny. They're ambitious."
The Grosshandlers would know. Lev's little sister is Chazzie, who identified herself as a girl in fourth grade.
"[I said]: 'Mom, Dad, I'm not just a boy who likes girly things. I am a girl and I want you to know that,'" Chazzie said, recounting her coming out conversation with her parents, "and they looked at me, and they hugged and squeezed me tight, and told me that everything's going to be OK."
The website for the GenderCool Project recalls that Jen Grosshandler and her husband, John, went looking in 2017 for positive stories about trans and nonbinary kiddos like Chazzie—and they could count the positive stories they found on one hand.
"In stark contrast, it took all of five seconds to find a tidal wave of misleading, sensational, negative content about these amazing young people," the website read.
Something had to change, the Grosshandlers decided right away. So Jen joined up with friend and member Gearah Goldstein—an expert on diversity and inclusion, wife, parent, and proud transgender person—and they founded GenderCool along with five young people and their families, the website recalls.
GenderCool has now become a worldwide movement.
Chazzie Grosshandler has taken her story all the way to the White House—twice. She and other people with the GenderCool Project are in a mission to sit at the table with decision-makers in politics, business, and more—as often as possible.
"I really want to keep spreading the word that I'm more than just a label, and that I'm just a human," Chazzie said.
Chazzie's biggest allies—her mother and brother—and trudging through training so they can helps pread her message.
'In those moments, it allows me to push through all the pain," said Lev.
On race day, tens of thousands of people across several neighborhoods will see mother and son in shirts stamped with three words.
"'Love Trans Kids,'" said Lev, "and so people are going to be looking at that, and they're going to know why we're running and who we're running for."
Marathon preparations for the GenderCool Project include fundraising. The Grosshandlers said money collected helps their trans and nonbinary speakers with travel expenses as they share their message across the U.S.
The marathon is set for Sunday morning. Meanwhile, Friday is National Coming Out Day.