- If you ask when I knew I was gay, or, you know,
I don't know that I could say that there's a moment,
or there's a time.
You know, I think I was just living my life.
I think growing up, sometimes I poured myself
into what I was doing, be it sports, you know,
something, because I thought maybe I was different,
but I wasn't sure.
And I'll never forget the two moments
when I told my mom and I told my dad.
Told my mom right when I was out of college,
and I was really struggling with my faith
and with my life. And that, to me, was my biggest struggle.
Not so much with culture, people, society.
I didn't really worry about any of that.
And so, I was just crying when I was talking to my mom,
and I was like, I don't know what to do,
because, you know, I believe very much in God.
I have a very deep faith,
but, you know, I love this person over here.
I don't...like, is God not gonna love me anymore?
And she just looked at me and she said,
Jennifer, is there anything that you could do
that would make me love you less?
And I said no.
And she said, well then that's God's love for you.
So you just be yourself.
And that's the message she gave me at the age of five, even.
Always be yourself.
So, when I told my dad, I was just
in kind of a difficult time of my life,
and this is years after I had talked to my mom,
and I just needed his support in general,
just in life, in general.
And he's always been there for me, too.
And so, I thought, this is a time I really
just need to be open with him, I need to talk to him.
And I asked him, did it ever seem strange
that I didn't have a boyfriend at this point?
And he said, no, you just live your life.
Enjoy your life and whatever is fine.
So, then, of course, tears.
And I said, Well, you know I'm gay
and I'm not with a man, I'm with a woman.
And he grabbed my hands,
and I'll never forget this moment,
he grabbed my hands and he said,
You're just as beautiful to me now as always.
I'm always gonna love you.
You just be who you are.
And it was - I mean, talk about a powerful moment.
If you want to call it coming out,
that was sort of accidental in a way.
Because I thought, I just thought everyone knew.
I wasn't, I never really hid anything,
but I never said anything.
And that's one of the things that I think
when you keep this, I think wonderful part of yourself,
bottled up.
You don't get to have that experience
where, here's my wife.
Here's my child.
You don't get to have those experiences.
And those are the experiences that make us.
I think those connections make us as people.
And so I was actually at an anti-defamation league dinner,
and I was introducing Rick Welts,
one of the most brave men that I've ever met.
The best human on the planet.
He's one of the most successful leaders in sports,
CEO of the Warriors.
I mean, he came out in 2011, and he's in men's sports.
So as I'm introducing him, I just thanked him.
I said, "Thank you for being the authentic leader you are
because now you allow me to do the same thing."
And then I had no idea it was gonna be a story.
I thought it was just like, you know I'm in San Francisco
thinking oh my God, no one cares anymore, no big deal.
And then, little did I know, it was a pretty big deal.
The greatest gift I think - one of them,
because I've had many - is my son.
He's just, from the minute he was born,
actually even when we found out Blair was pregnant,
we were just excited because we could share our love
with another human being.
And so to bring him up in our home, in our world,
and to see him grow and develop.
I mean, the first time he smiled I just melted.
He's now like, when we say, "Macklin for three!"
and he puts his hands up, "Macklin for three!"
You know, he waves every time we walk in the room.
There's a big smile and, you know,
we get to influence who he is.
He's just so near and dear to my heart
and I can't imagine life now without him.
So I'm aware that I probably live in a bubble,
being in Northern California and just being very accepted.
People don't judge you based on race, gender, sexuality.
It's really about who you are as a person.
And so, when I come out of that world,
I realize that that's not the case
for every place in this country.
That there's still places where you get judged
based on all those things.
And I don't think I understood
how ridiculous this sort of, "don't ask, don't tell" is.
Because people are looking at my life and looking at me
and wanting me to be authentic and to be true
and to be real.
When Blair and I got married, you can't say anything.
We're married.
I mean, this is not a fling.
This is not a, Oh you're just - No, we are two people,
that are connected, that love each other.
It's as simple as that.