While fighting back tears, Rep. Pramila Jayapal revealed why LGBTQ equality is so personal to her and her child.
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00:00My beautiful, now 22-year-old child told me last year that they were gender non-conforming.
00:08And over the last year, I have come to understand from a deeply personal mother's perspective.
00:16And it occurred to me that we're talking about fear versus love.
00:33We're talking about fear versus freedom.
00:36And I didn't intend to say this today, but...
00:39Excuse me.
00:47I've always been a civil rights activist.
00:49I've always fought for my constituents and my communities to have equal rights.
00:53But from a mother's perspective, I came to understand what their newfound freedom...
01:00It is the only way I can describe what has happened to my beautiful child.
01:05What their newfound freedom to wear a dress, to rid themselves of some conformist stereotype
01:14of who they are, to be able to express who they are at their real core.
01:20And since this deeply impactful moment last year, my child, who has always done well in school,
01:25but has carried what a mother can only describe as a heavy burden of conflict in their own being
01:34that I could not fully identify or help to express.
01:39Since this deeply impactful moment last year, my child's embracing of their non-conforming gender identity
01:47and all that it has allowed, all that it allows in terms of their creativity, their brilliance,
01:53their self-expression, the only thought I wake up with every day is, my child is free.
02:02My child is free to be who they are.
02:06And in that freedom comes a responsibility for us as legislators to protect that freedom,
02:13to be who they are, and to legislate, as Dr. Wiley so beautifully said,
02:19to legislate our behavior towards all people in our society.