Senator Cory Booker revealed he has a transgender relative and is a supporter of transgender rights.

The presidential candidate talked about his relative during an interview with the National Center for Transgender Equality Action Fund, the organization's political action division, according to The Advocate.

“My brother’s child, my ‘niephew,’ which is a combination of niece and nephew, is a trans activist,” Booker said. “[They have] helped their uncle be someone who is more aware of specific issues facing trans youth in schools today.”

The New Jersey senator hopes people like his "niephew" have a say in the direction of this country.

“I think that this is a moral moment in America and that the next president has to be someone that understands that there’s a restoration of the best of our values,” he added. “It has to be done from that office by elevating how we are rendering populations in this country invisible.”

The 50-year-old said a Booker presidency will have zero-tolerance for transphobia.

“Marginalizing them is just not acceptable to me,” he said. “So I hope that one day very soon — let’s call it maybe less than two years — that Avery, my "niephew," and other great trans leaders in the youth community have a seat at the White House to talk about issues.”

Booker also admitted he is worried about the violence transgender people experience in America.

“This is something that should have everyone in this country concerned, and frankly, outraged,” he said.

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A post shared by Cory Booker (@corybooker) on Jun 14, 2019 at 6:47pm PDT

He has every right to be concerned. As of press time, 16 transgender people have been murdered in 2019, and 15 of them are Black transgender women, according to the Human Rights Commission. The latest victim, 22-year-old Tracy Single, was found dead in a Houston gas station parking lot on June 30, as Blavity previously reported.

If he makes it to the White House, Booker plans to get rid of bigoted-Trump-administration policies. He said he wants to, “stop the backsliding … but more importantly, advance and gain ground.”

In March, he targeted Trump’s transgender military ban, specifically, according to NBC News.

“When I am president of the United States, right away I will end this ridiculous, insulting, un-American ban on transgender Americans serving in the military,” he said during a campaign stop.

Booker is a longtime supporter of LGBTQ rights.

When he was mayor of Newark, he refused to perform marriage ceremonies until same-sex marriage was legalized. When the day finally came, he performed the first ceremony in New Jersey at 12:01 a.m., according to Politico.

Niephew

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