Republican Congresswoman and Her Transgender Son Speak Out

Florida Congresswoman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen has never shied away from talking about her son, Rodrigo, but now they're telling their story to a national audience.

Dawn Ennis

The Advocate's news editor Dawn Ennis successfully transitioned from broadcast journalism to online media following another transition that made headlines; in 2013, she became the first trans staffer in any major TV network newsroom. As the first out transgender editor at The Advocate, the native New Yorker continues her 30-year media career, in which she has earned more than a dozen awards, including two Emmys. With the blessing of her three children, Dawn retains the most important job title she's ever held: Dad.

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Dawn Ennis

November 02 2015 9:16 AM EST

January 21 2016 10:30 PM EST

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Ileana Ros-Lehtinen is one of the leading voices in Congress advocating acceptance for the transgender community, and now she's taken her fight for her trans son and others nationwide.

The Republican representative from Florida and her son, Rodrigo Heng-Lehtinen, sat down for an interview with Telemundo, the Miami-based Spanish-language network, for a segment on its nationally broadcast newscast titled "Love That Breaks Barriers."

"It's not easy to speak out in public about having a transgender son when there's so much discrimination in this world," said Heng-Lehtinen, a staff member at GLAAD. "For us, family is family and love is love."

In the interview broadcast last week, Heng-Lehtinen told Telemundo he had worried about how his parents would react if he came out as trans. Both his father and his mother work at jobs serving the public, and they raised him in a conservative Spanish-speaking neighborhood in South Florida.

"People tell me and my husband, 'Oh, how great that you are accepting him.' First of all, he's our son. He's a blessing. He's a gift from our creator," said Rep. Ros-Lehtinen. "It's been an adventure for our family. An adventure of acceptance and learning what our priorities in life are."

This isn't the first time the GOP congresswoman has talked publicly about her son. Ros-Lehtinen joined California Democrat Rep. Adam Schiff in July to introduce a bill that would prohibit counselors at so-called boot camps from engaging in efforts to try to change a camper's sexual orientation or gender identity.