This year, Mississippi banned transgender young people, such as Ray, from accessing hormones or other gender-transition treatments. Nearly half the country has since passed similar bills, according to the Movement Advancement Project.

Across the country, families are doing everything they can to protect their trans children. Some uprooted their lives in red states for the promise of protections in blue ones. Others filed lawsuits. Katie, Ray’s mother, couldn’t afford to move, and she needed a solution faster than the courts could offer, so she’d settled on a cheaper, quicker plan: She’d take a day off from her nursing job, and she and Ray would travel out of state for his medical care.

This story is the third in a collection of new, occasional bonus episodes you’ll be hearing from “Post Reports.” We’re calling these stories “Deep Reads” and they’re part of The Post’s commitment to immersive and narrative journalism.

Today’s story was written by Casey Parks of The Washington Post and read by Adrienne Walker for Noa: News Over Audio, an app offering curated audio articles.