White House Deputy Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre opened up her coming out experience and her parents’ evolution on Twitter.
Jean-Pierre candidly detailed her experience coming out to her mother at 16 years old in a series of tweets posted on Friday. In May, she made history as the first Black woman and first queer woman ever to hold a briefing at the White House.
I dated, but I hid those relationships from my family. Just as American society has evolved over the course of the past couple of decades to embrace the LGBTQ community (never forgetting we still have work to do), my family has evolved to embrace my membership in it.
— Karine Jean-Pierre (@KJP46) June 25, 2021
“I came out to my Mom when I was 16 years old,” she began. “The revolted look on her face sent me running back into the proverbial closet and slamming the door shut. After that, my sexuality became a family secret, and it would stay that way for years.”
Jean-Pierre said she continued to date, but she hid her relationships from her family. Eventually, her family came around.
My journey towards feeling accepted by myself and loved ones wasn’t an easy one, but it was worthwhile. No matter where you are in your journey, I see you, we see you and we celebrate you – Happy Pride!
#Pride
— Karine Jean-Pierre (@KJP46) June 25, 2021
“Just as American society has evolved over the course of the past couple of decades to embrace the LGBTQ community (never forgetting we still have work to do), my family has evolved to embrace my membership in it,” she added.
She went onto expressed pride in her identity and her mom’s change of heart.
“I’m proud to be an out Black Queer woman, and I have been for quite some time. I’m happy to say. My Mother is now proud of ALL of who I am; she loves my partner, and she loves being a doting grandmother to the daughter we are raising,” Jean-Pierre wrote.
Jean-Pierre has a seven-year-old daughter with partner and CNN anchor Suzanne Malveaux, per Deadline. She ended the Twitter thread on a high note with an expression of solidarity toward the rest of the LGBTQ community.
“My journey towards feeling accepted by myself and loved ones wasn’t an easy one, but it was worthwhile. No matter where you are in your journey, I see you, we see you, and we celebrate you,” she concluded.
In an interview with Deadline last month, the Haitian American shared a more detailed account of her coming out to her mother and journey to self-acceptance.
“It took me a long time to come back out to her or to really be who I am, but all through my life, all through my adult years, all through my 20s really, I have always tried to be as true and as honest as I could be, in who I am, in everything I represent,” Jean-Pierre explained. “I’m a queer woman. I’m a Black woman. I’m an immigrant woman. I am all of these different things, and it’s always been very important for me to give voice to that and to be true to myself.”
