Rep. Jayapal: And it occurred to me that we’re talking about fear versus love we're talking about fear versus freedom and I didn't intend to say this today, but, excuse me. My beautiful, now 22-year-old child told me last year that they were gender non-conforming. And over the last year I have come to understand from a deeply personal mother's perspective. I've always been a civil rights activist, I've always fought for my constituents in my communities to have equal rights, but from a mother's perspective I came to understand what their newfound freedom—it is the only way I can describe what has happened to my beautiful child—what their newfound freedom, to wear a dress, to rid themselves of some conformist stereotype of who they are. To be able to express who they are at their real core.
And since this deeply impactful moment last year, my child who has always done well in school but has carried what a mother can only describe as a heavy burden of conflict in their own being that I could not fully identify or help to express. Since this deeply impactful moment last year, my child's embracing of their non-conforming gender identity and all that it has allowed, all that it allows in terms of their creativity, their brilliance, their self-expression … the only thought I wake up with every day is my child is free. My child is free to be who they are and in that freedom comes a responsibility for us as legislators to protect that freedom, to be who they are. And to legislate, as Dr. Wily so beautifully said, to legislate our behavior toward all people in our society.