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Gay lawmaker tweets support for Bruce Jenner

by Tim Devaney - 04/25/15 10:36 AM ET

An openly gay member of Congress is voicing support for Bruce Jenner, who confirmed Friday he is transitioning to become a woman.

Rep. Mark Takano (D-Calif.), the first openly gay Asian-American in Congress, encouraged Jenner to “be who he is” in a tweet posted Saturday morning.

We all have our own journey. Congratulations to #BruceJenner for finding happiness and finally being able to be who he is.

— Mark Takano (@RepMarkTakano) April 25, 2015

{mosads}In an interview Friday with ABC’s Diane Sawyer, Jenner said, “for all intents and purposes, I’m a woman.”

“People look at me differently,” said the 65-year-old former Olympic star. “They see you as this macho male, but my heart and my soul and everything that I do in life — it is part of me. That female side is part of me. That’s who I am.”

Jenner said he is a Republican and mentioned he would be open to lobbying congressional GOP leaders to back LGBT rights.

Though Jenner indicated he is not a “big fan” of President Obama, he said he was happy to see the president voice support for the transgender community in his State of the Union address in January.

“He actually was the first one to say the actual word ‘transgender,’ ” Jenner noted. “I will give him credit for that. But not to get political, I’ve just never been a big fan — I’m kind of more on the conservative side.”

“Are you a Republican?” Sawyer asked.

“Yeah, is that a bad thing? I believe in the Constitution,” Jenner said.

Tags Mark Takano