Remarks as Prepared for Delivery by The Honorable Sean Patrick Maloney

PHILADELPHIA, July 28, 2016 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Last week, a speaker at the Republican convention called equality a "distraction." "Who cares?" he asked. Well, I care. My husband Randy and our three children care. These LGBT leaders standing with me care. The authors of our nation's Declaration of Independence, signed right here in Philadelphia, cared. Americans at Seneca Falls, Selma, and Stonewall – they cared. And Hillary Clinton cares, too.

On June 26, 2015, I was walking past the Supreme Court. A crowd was gathered, awaiting the Court's marriage decision. The news hit like a thunderclap. Some wept. Then, spontaneously, hundreds joined together to sing our national anthem. I called Randy. I could barely speak. You see, Randy and I have been together for 24 years, 23 of them raising kids.

Our family is different, but we read bedtime stories the same, tie shoes, and check homework the same. We dream and comfort the same. But until that day, we weren't the same, not in the eyes of the law. So, as I listened to our national anthem, I realized that our family, our love was no longer less than. We were now equal.

It's a beautiful thing when your country catches up to you. When your basic rights and your very family are on the line, it matters what happens in those beautiful buildings with marble columns. It matters who's leading our country. It matters if they care.

America, we have a choice. Donald Trump doesn't care about some families. He's against marriage equality. He wants to go back. When I first met Hillary Clinton in Manchester, New Hampshire 24 years ago, I was nobody. I was some queer kid sleeping on a couch. I was scared to death that who I was meant that no one would ever care about me.

Here was this woman, about to be First Lady. She cared. Over the last 24 years she has kept on caring about me, my husband, and our kids. Hillary Clinton cares about all of our families. And that's why we must all care about this election.

Now, I want to introduce Sarah McBride. Sarah is a courageous young leader, and the first trans person ever to address a national convention. Sarah, it's an honor to make history with you, because we are Stronger Together. 

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SOURCE 2016 Democratic National Convention Committee

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