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Transcript Provided by YouTube:
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I’m Ileana Ross Layton and I’m a
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congresswoman from my South Florida and
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Dexter and I’ve been married 34 years
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and we have two children together
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Rodrigo and aunt Patricia
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Rico had written us a letter all about
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what he had been going through we knew
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something was happening and we figured
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he when he’s ready to talk we’re ready
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to listen and it was difficult for us
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because I mean it’s it’s a jarring
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revelation when you’re when your child
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says that to you worried about his
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safety and we’re worried about any
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bullying there are many unsafe
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communities throughout the United States
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and it’s a it’s a difficult situation
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for so many kids we can’t sugarcoat it
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and pretend that violence does not exist
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so many kids are thrown out of their
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homes so many kids turn to suicide and
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and what a waste of a precious life that
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is all the challenges that young people
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have add to that that you’re someone who
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society considers to be unusual out of
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out of the cookie cutter but support is
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so important emotional support so that
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you don’t feel alone my husband is very
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accepting and he just wants our children
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just like I did to be to be healthy to
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be safe and to be happy I would say to
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all the parents who are finding this out
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to talk to your child
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and love them and give them
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encouragement and and help them through
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that journey
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Rico maintained such a positive attitude
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throughout this transition we’re very
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proud of Rico and I’m proud of his
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activism because he is now someone who’s
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talking about how important it was for
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him how happy he is in his own skin and
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and let the that kids know everywhere or
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adults you know it’s gonna be alright
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every child is precious and and God has
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formed that child to be what he or she
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is he goes tell my baby he may be almost
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30 years old but that’s how I see him so
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I like to speak out about this issue
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because what I want is that that every
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child or every adult who goes through
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this transition know that there’s a that
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there’s a cushion there that there’s a
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support system what makes our families
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so very proud of Rico is that he’s so
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happy living an authentic life being
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honest about who he is and just brings a
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lot of joy in our lives
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This post was previously published on YouTube.
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Photo credit: Screenshot from video