There are two life lessons my dad taught me growing up that I've never forgotten, and that guide me now. "Never forget your roots," and "you were born into this world to change it, not just be part of it." I never fully understood these words of wisdom until later in life.
Life has been a wild, often difficult journey, but it's made me who I am today. I am a proud working-class gay immigrant from Liverpool, England, born to a loving family on a council estate that was known for poverty, crime, and poor education. I graduated high school with no aspirations for higher education, believing I wasn't capable, instead working a minimum wage retail job as of age sixteen where I learned a strong work ethic.
At age nineteen I was deported from the USA for being gay after admitting to Customs and Immigration in Atlanta that I had an American boyfriend, my first experience of discrimination in the American legal system. Shortly afterwards I also experienced homelessness.
Through these challenges, I learned to fight.
I fought the law that got me deported, and after a year apart I was reunited with my boyfriend in the USA. I campaigned for marriage equality in Washington State, going door to door, and upon passage my boyfriend became my husband. I followed the law that got me deported through the courts, and when it was overturned, I learned how to file for permanent residency, then citizenship.
Following the law closely raised my ambition to study it so that I could help others. I became a first-generation college graduate, and now a law school graduate from the University of Denver. Throughout my education, community organizing, owning a small business, work as a public defender, working at nonprofits, and leadership opportunities, it's been my dad's words that have guided me.
I'll never forget where I came from, my roots, and I'm here, running for State Representative, to use my lived experience to change the world for those who need it most. I am a fighter, and it's this passion that I bring to fight for others, to be the person I wish I had when I was younger for others.
If elected I will be the first gay immigrant elected in Colorado State history, with a unique perspective, a unique journey, a unique voice, and an unwavering goal of justice for all.
Thank you for being here!
- Mike -
