It’s a sad day for those hoping to see Britney Spears “dominate” the stage this year.

On Friday (January 4), the pop star announced that she’s taking an “indefinite work hiatus” while she takes time off to care for her ailing father. That means her Domination residency show in Las Vegas — which was slated to kick off in February at the Park MGM’s Park Theatre — has been postponed indefinitely.

“I don’t even know where to start with this, because this is so tough for me to say,” Spears wrote on Twitter and Instagram, alongside a throwback pic of her and her parents. “I will not be performing my new show Domination. I’ve been looking forward to this show and seeing all of you this year, so doing this breaks my heart. However, it’s important to always put your family first… and that’s the decision I had to make.”

She continued, “A couple of months ago, my father was hospitalized and almost died. We’re all so grateful that he came out of it alive, but he still has a long road ahead of him. I had to make the difficult decision to put my full focus and energy on my family at this time. I hope you all can understand.”

A press release from Spears’s rep further revealed that Jamie was hospitalized two months ago after his colon spontaneously ruptured, resulting in emergency surgery. He is currently recuperating at home and is expected to make a full recovery after “a long, complicated post-operative period.”

The Britney: Domination run of 32 shows — which was originally announced during a splashy event on the Strip back in October — was set to begin on February 13 and run through August 17 (fans can find refund information here). Spears was also rumored to be working on her tenth studio album to coincide with the residency, but the fate of that LP is now also unclear.

The bright side? At least we’ll always have Brit’s jaw-dropping video teasers to remind us of the choreo that awaits us, should Domination ever find its way to the stage. Sigh.

When 17-year-old transgender teen Leelah Acorn committed suicide in 2014, it made national headlines — and hit some parents painfully and particularly hard. 

Roz Keith was one of those parents. Keith’s teenage son had just come out to her as trans a year earlier.  She was in the middle of her own parenting journey, and it was “devastating and heartbreaking,” Keith told Mashable, to think that Acorn may have committed suicide “in part because she didn’t have parent support.” Acorn’s parents wouldn’t refer to Leelah as a girl. They had sent her to conversion therapy to help correct her gender identity.

At the time, Keith was participating in a Facebook group for parents of trans youth. She and another mother started thinking about ways Leelah’s parents and even they, as strangers, could have done more to help youth like Leelah.

That’s how Keith came up with Ally Moms, led specifically by mothers of trans youth. The network provides a list of personal phone numbers of allied moms. Anyone can call an Ally Mom for support at any time.

“Transgender youth need unconditional parent love,” Keith told Mashable. “Any trans youth or parent for that matter should be able to call and […] hear love at the other end of the line.”

SEE ALSO: 13 activists who gave us hope in 2018

Keith is now Executive Director of Stand with Trans, a Michigan-based nonprofit that operates Ally Moms. Four years after Keith founded the network, the need for caring, informed adults like her is just as acute as it was when she first started. 

Trans youth remain one of the most vulnerable populations in America

For all the incalculable damage Trump has done to the trans community in America, the past two years have also been characterized by a spike in visible role models for trans youth. The country has moved past its Caitlyn Jenner fascination and made room in their hearts for far more skillful activists like Jazz Jennings, Raquel Willis, and Laverne Cox.

Still, the statistics for trans youth remain steadily bleak: an October 2018 study by the American Academy of Pediatrics found that more than half of all trans male teens surveyed report having attempted suicide, compared to 29.9 percent of transgender female teens and 41.8 percent of all non-binary youth. Trans and non-binary youth are significantly more likely to develop a depressive disorder.

Protective factors do exist: most notably, positive relationships with peers, parents, and adults in the community. While support from parents is frequently the most persuasive, caring adults from outside the home can also help build measurably positive outcomes.

That’s exactly where Keith hopes Ally Moms can be the most impactful. Helplines like the Trevor Project and Trans Lifeline have built large, national profiles. Keith hopes Ally Moms can fill a very targeted niche: love from the people young people need to hear it from the most — parents. 

Even if they’re not their own.

A loving mom in nearly every state 

Ally Moms isn’t a traditional helpline. They don’t have a centralized calling system. Instead, they provide a list of moms, all of whom have trans children, from nearly every state. They give you the first name and home state of every volunteer parent and include their personal phone numbers. 

Volunteer parents are trained and screened. The goal is to keep it caring, professional, and personalized. “They may want to call someone in their state who knows local resources,” Keith says.

They also field dozens of international calls.

Ally Moms serves a highly specific community: trans youth, parents, and siblings of trans youth, as well as “trans adults who are feeling like they could use a mama,”Janna Barkin, who helps to coordinate volunteers for Ally Moms, told Mashable.

Barkin has a transgender son and recently published a book about parenting a trans child. For Barkin, the needs of trans kids are multiple and distinct from those of youth who identify strictly as lesbian, gay, or bisexual. There are legal issues (like birth certificate changes) and medical ones (including surgeries and hormone therapy) that cis queer kids don’t have to face.

“I don’t have experience having a gay child. I have a trans child. Gender and sexuality are different … We actually do have a specific understanding that parents of LGB kids don’t have — they can understand only to a certain point as well.”

Ally moms will sometimes stay in contact with a young person throughout their coming-out process: from the moment they reach out to Ally Moms with their anxieties, to the second they tell their parents, and for months afterward.

Michelle Levy, another Ally Mom, points to an additional hidden benefit of a parent-led helpline — it’s a resource for cis parents whose children are transitioning and who feel, well, lost:

“There are not many spaces for cis parents who grew up with a binary viewpoint of gender,” Levy says. “Some of the things they go through would be hurtful or harmful to their [transitioning] kids if they heard it. [Maybe it’s a feeling like] “I feel like my daughter died or “I’m going to miss my sweet daughter’s voice.” […] They have to work through these [issues] on their own and not add to the burden of their children who are already going through enough.”

Keith also talked about handling your child’s transition: “You can’t make them feel that your feelings are more important that theirs.” 

Sometimes, Levy will encounter parents with even more profound fears, ones which — if not properly addressed — could result in the abandonment of their children:

“Religion is one area. [I’ll hear] “I love my child, but my whole belief system — everything I base my life on — tells me this is wrong. These people have a very difficult time with acceptance. And it can result with people getting kicked out of their homes.”

Levy believes Ally Moms can be the bridge between a parent’s rejection and acceptance. The risks of ignoring or shaming those parents can’t be minimized:

“For parents who reject their trans children, the statistics are unbelievable. Children are much more likely to self-harm or experience suicidal ideation,” Levy says. “Would you rather have a dead daughter or a live son? That’s not theoretical. If you reject your children they do not do well.”

“We feel like we’re really doing life-saving work.”

From Ally Moms to Ally Parents

For all the work Ally Moms performs, it’s a relatively small operation, fielding far fewer calls than well-established hotlines like Trans Lifeline. Barkin is hopeful the organization will expand. Ally Moms got a boost during the holidays after their numbers were shared on social media. Trans youth and parents reached out alike, and so too did another critical population — dads who want to volunteer.

Ally Moms started off as a mom-driven operation because mothers initially expressed more interest. That’s been changing, Barkin reports, with more and more dads who want to be involved. The goal for Ally Moms is to be “inclusive of all genders,” she says, including parents who don’t identify as either male or female. The organization is planning a name change in the future in response.

There are sure to be other changes in the group’s future, too, but it’s also possible Ally Moms will remain a modestly sized operation. And maybe that’s okay. Allies will always navigate a contested space in social movements. Ideally, they serve as aids and advocates for those primarily affected by oppression (in this case, trans youth). The goal is to give support — not dominate a movement that ultimately doesn’t belong to them.

For now, Ally Moms is the only parent-led phone network serving the community.

“Nobody else is doing this,” Keith says of Ally Moms. “If we can help one child every day — 10 children a day — whatever it is, whoever we can support. We’re out there for anyone who needs it.”

From international escapades to intergalactic adventures, fans have spent decades following expert thief Carmen Sandiego all over the map through video games. Now, they can hunt her down on Netflix in her new animated series, Carmen Sandiego.

Complete with the iconic broad brimmed hat and flowing red overcoat, Gina Rodriguez heads up this adventure as the voice of world-renowned super thief turned heart-of-gold crime stopper, Carmen. The series will dive into Carmen’s back story as well as introduce some new characters set to help her thwart the evil plans of V.I.L.E.

From the stunning animation to the incredible voice acting (did I already mention the incomparable Gina Rodriguez is in this?!), this reboot is primed for bingeing success—but only time will tell where in your queue it ends up.

Carmen Sandiego begins streaming on Netflix 1/18.