PFLUGERVILLE, Texas (KXAN) — The upstairs bonus room in a family’s home now looks more like a department store complete with clothing racks, shoe displays and a makeup counter. There’s not a price tag in sight, though, because the woman who organized everything intends to give away all of it to people she feels are under attack right now in Texas.

“Everybody should have someone in their life that makes them feel beautiful,” Shelly Barber said, “and we want to make sure that they have that feeling.”

Displayed on a tall, golden easel in one corner is a large sign that reads “Sammie’s Closet,” which is the name of this space that now provides clothes and other essentials to transgender and nonbinary people. Barber named it after Sammie Bolt, one of her daughter’s friends, who lived with them for a while and came into her identity during that time as a transgender woman.

“There are a lot of people out there who want to judge and who want to inflict some kind of harm,” Barber said. “I want the transgender and nonbinary community to know that there are so many people out there that want to support them and affirm them as well, and that’s what we want to do here.”

The idea to start the clothing closet came after people flooded Bolt with support because of a post Barber made in a Facebook group. Neighbors ended up donating clothes, jewelry and a number of other gender-affirming items to Bolt, and thinking about that response still touches her.

“It was a surprise because I didn’t think anybody would accept me when I came out,” Bolt said. “They were all just so supportive and so accepting of me. They were trying their hardest to do everything they could for me, which was really nice.”

Last month, Barber organized what she called a “trans social clothing swap” at the Pflugerville Public Library, where people could not only find new clothes but also donate their old items. More than a dozen people stopped by the event that day, Barber said. She plans to hold another event there later this year.

In the meantime, though, people can now schedule an appointment to visit Sammie’s Closet, which will remain in her friend’s home for the time being. Only three people have stopped by and shopped so far. Barber said she’s now working to spread the word to other community groups and social media pages so that even more will come to utilize the new clothing closet.

Bolt also said she now dreams of working with Barber to set up closets across the state to assist the thousands of transgender men and women believed to call Texas home.

“I hope that [the clothing closet] gives them the confidence that getting clothes gave me — it gives them the confidence and the ability to express themselves that it gave me,” Bolt said, “which I think is very important for trans people to regain their confidence in who they are.”

The Williams Institute, an LGBTQ+ policy research center at the UCLA School of Law, reviewed population-based survey responses and estimated last year the number of transgender adults in Texas is about 92,900. That’s the third highest amount in the country behind California (150,100) and Florida (94,900). If that rough figure is indeed accurate, then transgender adults would comprise only 0.31% of Texas’ population, which the Census Bureau reported is more than 30 million people as of July 2022.

According to the Williams Institute, it estimates more than 1.3 million adults identify as transgender in the U.S. as a whole, which is only 0.5% of the country’s population.

Texas lawmakers passed new restrictions focused on the transgender community during the regular legislative session that ended on May 29. Supporters of these efforts argued they’re necessary to create fairness and protect children. Gov. Greg Abbott signed into law one measure that will bar transgender women from playing on female sports teams at the collegiate level. Another law set to go into effect will ban transgender minors from receiving certain health care options, like puberty-blocking medication, hormone therapies or surgeries, to assist in their transition.

Meagan Butler, a senior therapist who works a lot with LGBTQ+ children and their families at Ensemble Therapy in Austin, said the current political environment in Texas makes it important for something like Sammie’s Closet to exist locally. She described clothing as part of social gender affirmation, which would also include things like someone changing a name or pronouns. She said even these simple adjustments can be “life-saving care” for a transgender child or adult.

“I work with kids that go through a lot of distress because of their gender identity, and they feel the discrimination. They feel a lot of discomfort from others,” Butler said. “When they actually have someone that is affirming and caring, it radically changes the inside experience for them. I’ve seen people say that it’s life saving. I’ve seen people say that they love themselves. I’ve seen people say that their depressed mood goes down. Their suicidal thoughts go away, and if something as simple as ‘I have a new outfit on’ can do that, we need to do that.”

How to visit, donate or volunteer

For safety reasons, Barber is not sharing publicly where Sammie’s Closet is located in Pflugerville. People can make an appointment to either shop there or make a donation by sending an email to sol@sammiescloset.com or by calling 512-640-9363.

Monetary donations can be sent to the PayPal account for the Saint Joan of Arc Episcopal Church in Pflugerville. If someone gives money, please make a note that it’s “for Sammie’s Closet.”

Barber added she’s also looking for volunteers to help her keep the closet going. She said this is a way for people to step up and truly make a difference in someone else’s life, just like how she saw others impact Bolt at the beginning of her transition.

“Sammie’s a beautiful soul. She changed my life. She made me want to be a better person,” Barber said. “I don’t normally think of myself as a good person, but I wanted to be a better person because of her. I want that life-changing moment to affect other people, too — look what she did. Because of her and because of the various people in this community, this has happened — this is Sammie’s Closet.”