Chris Haulmark​ adamantly advocates for America's LGBTQ community through a shared story and parallel discussions of the Deaf community.

Transcription:

[Video Description: Chris Haulmark is standing in the kitchen wearing light purple long-sleeved and button-up shirt.]

Hello everyone!

I am Chris Haulmark, running to represent Kansas’s Third Congressional District.

Today's discussion is about the LGBTQ community!

Historically, I have always been an ally of the LGBTQ community all over the nation.

Actually, the word, ally, is not something to be labeled with.

Well, some LGBTQ members have identified me as a community ally.

Got that?

Now, let’s back up and consider my history.

An explanation is at hand for those who are unfamiliar about what makes up of the Deaf community.

We have abundant numbers of LGBTQ-identified people in our Deaf community.

So it is!

We, Deaf and LGBTQ people, have a similar history of institutional oppressions and identity struggles.

Got that?

Consider a recent example:

Last year, Supreme Court ultimately ruled for marriage equality for all LGBTQ people.

What a HUGE success! And memorable! Wow!

Got that?

Prior to this ruling, some folks were (and still are) bitterly opposed to the idea of same-sex marriage.

Got that?

Just so you know, a long, long time ago, there was also institutional opposition to Deaf couples getting married.

Institutional opposition to Deaf couples marrying was indeed bitter and vocal!

Today, many of our fellow Deaf people do marry each other without institutional opposition.

There is some hereditary deafness that gets passed between generations, with Deaf couples having Deaf children.

Yes, indeed, that institutional opposition happens!

*musing*

Consider me: I married a Deaf woman, and my two children, are not Deaf themselves.

Got that?

Along with fellow Deaf community members, we are continually exposed to Deaf LGBTQ people.

My early exposure began way back when I was younger- at age fourteen, I attended Arkansas School for the Deaf as a transfer student for five weeks and then returned to the public school system.

During those five weeks as a resident student at the Arkansas School for the Deaf, my roommate was a gay boy.

That experience was to be my first actual exposure to a LGBTQ person.

During this experience, I simply learned and understood how someone could identify as a LGBTQ person.

After completing high school, I continued to socialize with the Deaf community, becoming more and more exposed to to the LGBTQ community.

That exposure continued as I learned more and more about the LGBTQ community values.

That continued exposure provided opportunities to learn as much as possible.

Today, there is such a wealth of experience, knowledge, and understanding acquired on LGBTQ community needs and values.

Definitely learned how to fight for them, too!

We as the LGBTQ and Deaf communities are continually fighting for our civil rights.

Think about it!

Also, consider other marginalized groups such as People of Color.

Together, we're much more aware of institutional oppression that each of us experiences- feeling the pain and struggles and persisting in spite of everything.

In spite of all that institutional oppression, we all have the same goal: improving the quality of life here in America and Kansas.

A thought..

To observe such an awful trend within the LGBTQ community is that: there are so many LGBTQ-identified youths becoming terrified or ashamed to come out of the closet as what they are.

That cause of fear is totally unacceptable!

We Americans should emphatically accept all across our country and Kansas, the ideal that it’s perfectly alright to be gay, lesbian, bisexual, transexual, along with all the other identities we humans have.

They should be absolutely fine- I mean it!!

We Americans need to accept that ideal!

I am SO willing to fight for our fellow LGBTQ Americans against those who want to oppress that marginalized community.

The LGBTQ community is a BEAUTIFUL community!

They are so full of LOVE! And it’s my belief that everyone should have the autonomy to love!

[GRINNING]

Ya better believe it!

[Video fades into a black background with a logo of a cartoonish Chris Haulmark signing “Believe” with white text of “Yes, We Can Believe” below the logo. There is the text of www.HaulmarkForCongress.com at the bottom]