00:00I'm just joking.
00:07Thank you very much.
00:12As a transgender Catholic, I really wanted to share my story with Pope Francis,
00:18because he's so pastoral, and let him know, really illustrate that our stories are all different,
00:27and give him another perspective to consider when the church is talking about transgender people and gender.
00:36The one message I really wanted to share with Pope Francis was about the joy that I have being a transgender Catholic person,
00:44and the joy that I get from hormone replacement therapy and the surgeries that I've had that make me feel comfortable in my body.
00:53He was very pastoral, very interested in my story, and it was just a very welcoming atmosphere,
00:59and I felt that he wanted to hear everything I had to say.
01:02I never imagined I would be here.
01:08It means the world to me.
01:10My faith is so important to me, and even though at times I feel so unwelcome,
01:17Pope Francis has always made me feel that I do belong in this church, and that I am part of the Catholic faith.
01:24And so meeting him, it really means the world to me, and it makes me grateful to be a Catholic.
01:31Yes, I think the message really is that we need to listen to the experiences of transgender people,
01:41their families, their friends, their loved ones.
01:45We need to get inside of other people's shoes.
01:48It was a wonderful meeting.
01:50I shared with the Pope my experience as a health care provider providing care to transgender individuals.
01:58I expressed that gender identity is not a choice.
02:02Thinking about it as, you know, we don't choose whether we're right or left-handed.
02:07We also don't choose our gender.
02:09The Pope was very receptive.
02:12He listened very empathetically, and he also shared that he always wants to focus on the person,
02:25the well-being of the person.
02:27He always stands with those that have been discriminated against,
02:30and he really feels very strongly that we need to support the person.
02:42For more information visit www.fema.gov
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