'We knew we had to get out': Family with trans daughter flees US for New Zealand
But last month, the couple was forced to spend their life savings to relocate to New Zealand.
The reason, they say, is to protect their ten-year-old transgender daughter from the new administration's targeting of trans individuals within the United States.
' When we woke up the next day and saw Trump had won, we knew we had to get out,' Candace recalled.
'We knew based on the platforms he was running on, and Project 2025, it was a huge indicator of what his next term was going to look like. The fact that they were targeting trans folks, we knew that the writing was on the wall."
Trump signs an executive order recognising two sexes only
In January, President Donald Trump issued an executive order aimed at restricting access to gender-affirming care for minors. His inauguration speech made his intentions clear.
"As of today, it will henceforth be the official policy of the United States government that there are only two genders: male and female,' Trump said.
That line on that day was a turning point for Candace and Brandon.
'It was awful, we just sat there and cried. We couldn't even watch it. It was incredibly devastating to our family to see all of it.
'We had been told by so many people, it's not going to be that bad that quickly, or Project 2025 isn't really going to happen. Day one, it was already awful.'
'Then it was just a matter of where should we go?' Candace said.
Chase's hospital stops providing transition-related care
Candace felt there was a glimmer of hope for their daughter because they lived in a blue state. She felt like it might shield Chase from the executive order, which blocked federal funds from going to hospitals that provide transition-related care to minors.
But Chase's medical team at the Children's Hospital Colorado told them 16 days into the new administration that it could no longer provide transition-related medical care to anyone under 19.
The couple were shocked. Colorado was one of a dozen states that passed 'shield' laws, intended to protect access to trans health care.
'Sixteen days in, we got the email that they weren't going to be able to continue medical gender affirming care. That's awful in and of itself, but then we had to deal with her passport,' Candace said.
'We knew we were leaving, and her passport says female, so what was that going to look like?
'We had already heard so many stories of trans people trying to change their gender marker back and them not getting their passports back. Or if they did get them back, they were damaged,' she added.
Their daughter is one of the 1.6 million American citizens who identify as transgender, one in five of whom are between the ages of 13 and 17, according to the Williams Institute think-tank at the University of California.
Candace said she had sensed her daughter was going to be gender diverse.
Chase came out to her parents as non-binary at the age of six. Later that year, she announced that she identified as a girl.
Candace admits she initially wanted her daughter to keep figuring out her non-binary identity rather than fully transition, a response which she deeply regrets. But Candace never wavered in her support of her daughter and was committed to making sure she was gender-affirmed.
Brandon began researching emigrating to Spain, Portugal, New Zealand or Canada.
Candace organised a GoFundMe fundraiser with a goal of $50,000 towards relocating.
In the end, they chose New Zealand because Brandon had visited the country a few years ago and knew it was a very LGBTQI+ friendly place, where their children would be able to speak the language and assimilate with relative ease.
Brandon received a job offer from a company in New Zealand, and the family packed up their life in America within two months, saying goodbye to the grandparents, cousins and siblings they left behind.
Moving was the 'right choice', says Candace
As Candace looks forward to her new life 7,400 miles away from home, she is adjusting to life in Queenstown with anxiety and hope.
The children started their new school on Monday.
"They could not stop talking over one another to talk about what a great day they had - it's heartwarming for us," Candace recalled.
"As far as the transness, the great thing is the only documentation needed here is [Chase's] visa and passport, which both say female. It's only going to come up if she chooses to share that with someone.'
Unsure if or whether they will ever return to America due to the fear of their daughter's documentation, Candace has no regrets about leaving.
'As we were leaving, we got a message from the gender affirming Care Clinic in Colorado saying that the Department of Justice had subpoenaed records. That is a HIPAA (Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act) violation. All of these things keep proving that this was the right choice for us.'
The moral argument around whether to remain in the US in the face of the increasing hostility towards trans people weighs heavily on Candace and Brandon.
'People said to us, 'Why don't you stay and fight the good fight, stay here and fight for her rights?'
"She's a ten-year-old child, we can't stay and fight when her safety, her mental well-being and her health care are at risk,' Candace said.
'It was actually my mum who said, 'You guys go, you get safe. We'll stay here and fight the good fight for you'.'
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