Heather, left, and Jayla Howard left behind family, jobs and a house in North Texas to find safety in Fort Covington, New York
DAVID TAFFET | Senior Staff Writer
Taffet@DallasVoice.com
After the Texas Legislature passed and Gov. Greg Abbott signed Senate Bill 12 — “the bathroom bill” — in 2025, Jayla and Heather Howard realized that they no longer felt safe in Texas. So they left behind their home and their work to move to a small town in upstate New York where, they say, their new neighbors are more open-minded and less concerned with other people’s business.
Both of the Howards were born and raised in Texas, but as the state government’s animosity toward transgender people grew, it became clear they could no longer live here. Cannon Flowers, who previously lived in North Texas and who had who worked on LGBTQ+ immigration issues for years, moved to New York with his husband about five years ago. He referrs to these types of moves as “regional asylum” and “personal safety migration.”
Jayla agreed with those terms, saying the decision she and her wife made to move wasn’t one they made lightly.
First there was their family: Heather has two adult children in Texas. Jayla has one child in college and another in high school. And both women have elderly parents.
Next there were their jobs to consider: Jayla is an attorney who worked for the Dallas County District Attorney’s Office for four years before doing environmental enforcement work. Then, during the pandemic, she opened her own law firm specializing in criminal defense work while continuing to take environmental cases and cases in other areas in which she had experience litigating.
Heather drove an 18-wheeler for UPS, a position that is not transferrable. The package delivery company has been downsizing over the past year, though. And when UPS offered her an early retirement package, she took it.
And finally, there was their house, which was on the market before they left but hasn’t yet sold. They said the house sits on a large lot and has “a lot of customized upgrades.”
Despite all those factors, though, they really felt they needed to leave. And last year, that need became urgent.
“We already felt unwelcome in Texas and, we were considering leaving a couple of years ago,” Jayla said. “When Trump got re-elected, we began working more diligently [toward moving], and when the bathroom bill passed, we felt we had to leave without even selling our house.”
She explained that with passage of the bathroom bill, her work as an attorney became impossible because of the amount of time she spent at the Frank Crowley Courthouse in downtown Dallas. The bathroom bill requires trans people in public buildings such as schools, courthouses and government offices to use restrooms matching their sex assigned at birth.
“I would have been required to use the men’s rooms — in my dress and makeup,” Jayla said.
“I would have been in an environment with potentially violent sexual offenders and others, with no protection for myself.”
Putting herself in a dangerous situation on a daily basis was not an option.
“I spent all that time building up a lucrative practice,” Jayla said sadly. “I hired a paralegal and was thinking of expanding more. Instead, I spent most of this year winding down my practice.”
She added that the type of work she was doing was not something she could do remotely.
So instead, Jayla became licensed to practice law in New York state. Fortunately, Texas and New York share reciprocity, so that process only took several months to process paperwork and go through a background check.
Then she found work with a law firm in Albany, about 200 miles from Fort Covington where she lives. She is able to work remotely.
But why Fort Covington?
The couple had several requirements in addition to moving somewhere with legal protections based on gender identity. If they couldn’t immediately move to Canada, they wanted to live on the Canadian border.
Fort Covington sits on the Canadian border. In fact, if you walk to the end of the street the Howards live on, you can see Canada.
They applied for “express entry” to Canada, based on Jayla’s profession. But she’s not licensed to practice law in any Canadian province yet. Once she is, points will get added to her score, making it more likely their application will be approved.
Quebec and Ontario are the two provinces that border New York. Business is conducted in French in Quebec. So Jayla said she will probably work on acquiring her law license in Ontario.
They didn’t want to just live near the border; they wanted to live in an area where there was a land border they could cross in an emergency. Most of the border between New York and Ontario is water: Lake Erie, Lake Ontario or the St. Lawrence Seaway, so that counted out all of western New York.
They began looking online for a house and found five that were in their price range. The one they chose had some mold issues, but the owner was willing to come down on the price. The Howards made an offer, and the owner accepted it.
The couple moved in November and are still settling in. Some of the things they need to get done — like fencing the yard to keep the dogs in — can’t be done in the freezing cold of the New York winter.
Still, they say they’re quite happy with their move and noted that even though they now live in a heavily Republican area, “We don’t get the hateful stares in public,” Jayla said. “We don’t get questions about our personal business at all.
“Everyone just treats us like human beings.”
They have one other scenario they’re working on — a possible move to Ireland. They vacationed in Ireland on their honeymoon and said they fell in love with the beautiful island, its slower-paced lifestyle and fascinating culture.
“Here we’re either loved or hated,” Jayla said. “There, it’s just very indifferent. They don’t treat you any differently.”
To others considering personal safety migration, Jayla advised “Do it” — but prepare.
Figure out if you can transfer with your job, Jayla suggested. If not, once you find a place you’d like to live, try to get a new job before moving. It’s easier to get a job when you have one than to go job hunting when you don’t, she said.
“The more you plan ahead, the easier the transition is going to be,” Jayla concluded. “I sacrificed a lot to get out, and, so far, it’s absolutely worth it.”