Friend, I’m Eric Sorensen -- the meteorologist and Democrat representing Illinois 17th District in Congress.

Before I came home to Illinois, I was a meteorologist at a local station in Tyler, Texas.

One morning, my boss approached me and said we needed to speak after the show.

When I got to the conference room, I saw my employment contract laid out on the desk. Next to it was a print out of my profile from a gay dating website.

I was told I had a choice: to be "that person" in the profile, or "have a job."

I decided then and there to resign and move back to Illinois.

That was 20 years ago, and the reason I’m sharing this story now, is because I never imagined the LGBTQ community would be experiencing the surge in discrimination it is today.

We've seen far-right politicians banning LGBTQ books from schools and libraries. Just this week, Republicans passed a bill to ban transgender youth from girl's sports.

Imagine what gay and trans kids may think seeing this in the news? I can tell you for a fact I'd be feeling scared, isolated, and ashamed.

These attacks are a reminder of why we need representatives in Congress who can lead with empathy – especially when it comes to protecting youth who may already feel marginalized.

I’m ready to stand up to the anti-LGBTQ agenda in Congress, but it's going to take a team effort to get this done. Please make a contribution between NewDems and my re-election campaign to help defeat these bigoted attacks on our community.

Thanks for hearing me out,

Eric