Parents of a transgender kindergartner say a proposed bathroom bill would marginalize their son who already has a tough road ahead.

A new measure by State Senator Larry Grooms (R) is making its way through the South Carolina statehouse and would require transgender students in Berkeley County to use the bathroom of their birth gender or a faculty bathroom.

Alex Parkman was born Ava Parkman and at just two and a half years old told her mother she was not a girl, but a boy.

Nicole and Rob Parkman thought their daughter meant she was a tomboy or gay, but they noticed she became more depressed the more she dressed like a girl. “He had been telling us over and over I’m a boy, I’m a boy” said Rob Parkman, “we spent so many nights in the bathroom after putting the kids to bed crying about this, we were scared – we didn’t know what to do.”

A doctor told them to just love and support their child. So the Parkman’s began the transition slowly one night by simply changing pronouns and calling Ava, Alex instead. “It was the first day we walked into preschool that Alex didn’t cry – he walked in proud,” said Nicole Parkman, “He was beaming.”

“It was the first day of preschool Alex didn’t cry,” added his father.

The Parkman’s are now concerned a state senator from their district is discriminating against their son. Alex’s father believes it’s politics and if those pushing the bill met Alex, they may better understand what Alex and others like him are going through. “I don’t see human beings acting like this if there wasn’t something like politics involved,” said Rob Parkman, “we want them to come an meet our son and see there are humans behind this.”

The Parkman’s say Sen. Larry Grooms has agreed to come over to their home Saturday to meet Alex.