When I got involved in politics and started running, there were questions about whether a woman could take care of her kids and serve in office. And that was never an issue when I ran.
Whether a woman's running for office or she's supporting her husband who's running for office and she gets criticised for wearing open-toed shoes or for the colour of her coat, there's just a lot of history that you bear if you are a woman who puts herself out in the political arena.
I want a woman that wants me to take care of myself because truly, that tells a lot about you. And if you don't take care of yourself how can you take care of a woman? How can you take care of kids?
When I was running 'round in America, about 30 years old, I didn't want no woman. I knowed I could make enough money to take care of myself, but I didn't want nobody to take care of.
I started running outside when I was at 'Biggest Loser.' Then I got runner's knee, and thought I was never going to be able to shake it. When I overcame that and ran the L.A. Marathon, it was such an amazing thing, and now running is such a part of my routine.
A woman caring for her children; a woman striving to excel in the private sector; a woman partnering with her neighbors to make their street safer; a woman running for office to improve her country - they all have something to offer, and the more our societies empower women, the more we receive in return.
This was the first time a woman in Dallas had won public office of any kind - even women questioned whether or not I was qualified, whether or not I could take it.
Distance running was revered because it was indispensable; it was the way we survived and thrived and spread across the planet. You ran to eat and to avoid being eaten; you ran to find a mate and impress her, and with her you ran off to start a new life together. You had to love running, or you wouldn't live to love anything else. And like everything else we love-everything we sentimentally call our 'passions' and 'desires'-it's really an encoded ancestral necessity. We were born to run; we were born because we run.
There had been questions raised about whether we could ever really unite to work together on an issue, whether we could do it with equal passion and fervor. And it happened during my nomination and I think I forever will be grateful for that love, for that support and for proving those naysayers wrong.
When I say I'm going to take care of a woman, I don't just mean physically or sexually or romantically. I'm going to take care of her emotionally and spiritually. I'm going to take care of her in all ways. I take a lot of pride in that today.
I have always been involved in issue-based politics, not party politics - I was never really originally drawn to party politics.
For most women, running for office starts with a passion for an issue you care about. For me, it's always been about human rights, domestic-violence prevention, juvenile-justice reform, sexual-assault prevention.
That more women are getting involved in politics - either by running for office, managing campaigns or voting - is a great thing.
Politics will take care of itself. I'm interested in people who are involved in the situations that politicians create. Politics is taken care of by politicians - they're not filmmakers.
My mom was a sub teacher her whole life. My aunt was a teacher her whole life. So that wasn't hard to do. Performing in front of people started when I was a child. My mom ran a theatre. So we were around it. Getting up in front of people has never been an issue. So I think once you get over that part of it, I'm happy to teach anybody anything.
I never really got any backlash from coming out. Across the board all I really got was kids who were grateful, which is so touching and rewarding for me. So grateful that I came out, that I could serve as someone in their world that was gay and helped them feel comfortable about being gay themselves.
We got a lot of politicians that will kiss babies, cut ribbons, do whatever it takes to be popular. That's not why I ran for office. I ran for office to make the generational changes in Louisiana.