Every new instance of veteran suicide showcases a barrier to access, but with three incidents on VA property in just five days, and six this year alone, its critical we do more to stop this epidemic, all Americans have a role to play in reducing veteran suicide, and the House Committee on Veterans Affairs is going to make this issue a top priority.

Mark Takano

Categorized in : U.S.

You cant not be changed by the experience of seeing extreme poverty. You start to want to think about ways in which you can make the world better.

Mark Takano

want world thinking

We, as Americans, do our level best to avoid being cruel to one another; we're led out of a diverse nation to come together and learn how to live with one another in a way that elevates everyone and our way of life. We've tried mightily to renew and imagine - imagine anew what it means to be free, what it means to be fair.

Mark Takano

levels together mean

I think it is important for someone like me to not run away from who I am but embrace it. LGBT people across the country need to know they have a friend in Congress.

Mark Takano

running country thinking

I taught high school English for 24 years. I always teach my students to appreciate the beauty of language and to write poetically.

Mark Takano

writing years school

I am very troubled by your non-answers today. Madam secretary, there is no freedom in a student being obligated to pay off a loan from a school that has defrauded them. It's an unjust burden.

Mark Takano

politics

( Donald Trump) showed very shallow knowledge of history by suggesting that maybe it was a correct thing to do to intern Japanese-Americans, the anti-refugee rhetoric that he has described on the campaign and has continued to use in his presidency made it clear to me that he has a set a tone in this country of intolerance.

Mark Takano

politics

Once I got started with the live streaming I did n’t feel like I could let down the people who were following me, it was a way to push out a message.

Mark Takano

technology

The fact that, for so many generations, ordinary, everyday Americans came out of the closet and told their family and friends about who they are has laid the foundation for public sentiment to change. They got comfortable in their own skins to be able to share themselves with family and friends. This is where social change took place.

Mark Takano

place friends family change

When I first ran for Congress in the 1990s, my background as an openly gay Asian was one of the focal points of the campaign, and, in fact, my opponent attacked me for it.

Mark Takano

background me congress gay

It's common sense to be for middle-class tax cuts and tax cuts on small businesses, to be for not allowing Medicare to be turned into voucher care.

Mark Takano

sense small common-sense care

I hope that by just being a competent member and expressing informed views on issues that aren't related to issues of LGBT equality, Republicans see me as a general asset.

Mark Takano

see me equality hope

The model that I'd always seen as a little boy, as a teenager, as I watched other political careers, I saw people who'd start off in local government, gain experience, move to state government, and then on to federal office. I'd always believed that kind of experience was important.

Mark Takano

boy experience government people

I think most polling shows that most Americans agree that when it comes to employment that, you know, people should be really judged by, you know, their competency and not, you know, who it is they choose to love or who they're in a relationship with.

Mark Takano

you love relationship people

As someone who is both an ethnic minority and openly gay, I often talk about how simply being who I am has given me a double awareness of the vulnerability that some Americans may be facing.

Mark Takano

i-am someone me gay

Those life experiences that helped shaped my political beliefs are with me in every position I take and every vote that I cast - whether it be in favor of comprehensive immigration reform, strengthening Social Security and Medicare, or improving our nation's education system.

Mark Takano

me vote education life

Every member of Congress is sent to Washington to represent all of their constituents, regardless of their age, race, social standing, or sexual orientation, and I believe that America should be a place where everybody can dream, and nobody is left out.

Mark Takano

nobody place age believe

Interracial marriages were basically legalized, but nevertheless, there was a social stigma attached to them for a long time to come. I imagine that's going to be true for same-sex marriages - that people's emotional comfort level with it will not fully materialize for decades.

Mark Takano

long-time time long people