This enlightenment led to Gingrich’s coming out to her family, which set the stage for the larger message she brought to a crowd of 450 at Kansas State University on February 4: Coming out is the single most important thing the queer community can do to affect change. "When we show them who we are," stated Gingrich, "they begin to change. It’s hard for them to not like us."

Gingrich was not known until her half-brother Newt became House Speaker in 1994 which marked, noted Gingrich, "a sudden media interest in the family."

Prior to her brother’s fame, Gingrich had spent her early twenties in what she termed "blissful ignorance." Her family had accepted her as a lesbian. Newt’s response was also affirming: "He said it was my life and I have every reason to live my life the way I wanted to," remembered Gingrich.

Being young and ignorant of the political climate, Gingrich accepted his response for the next seven years.

During Thanksgiving dinner in 1994, Gingrich learned of her brother’s politics when she read his public statement that gays should be tolerated the same way alcoholics are tolerated. He had also added that it was madness to pretend that families are "anything more than heterosexual couples."

That Thanksgiving event awakened Gingrich from her inactive slumber, philosophizing that most of us are really "reactivists" when we first become active. "It takes something like this to spark us," she added.

"Education is the key," said Gingrich. "I’d like to think that someone is ignorant; they don’t really hate. Coming out is the way to change that."

Gingrich noted that the negative statements made by leaders about queers foster the motivation behind queer crimes. She added that queers "are a cash cow for radical religious right groups. They makes lots of money off us."

Queers should worry more about their messages and motives than Fred Phelps because they are "more sane than Phelps," stated Gingrich. She would rather people hear coming out experiences in a positive way from queers than from these leaders who promote the message that queers want "special rights."

Not approving legislation affirms hate crimes, said Gingrich, who encouraged the audience to contact its Congressional representatives, particularly the ones who do not believe they have queer constituents.

In attendance at the Gingrich speech were KSU administrators and Manhattan city officials. Notables who declined the invitation to attend were Manhattan’s legislators: Senator Lana Oleen, Representative Kent Glasscock, and Representative Jeff Peterson. The woman sent to represent all three legislators stated that she has no knowledge of their stands on queer issues.

Citing Matthew Shepard’s grisly murder last year in Wyoming, Gingrich admitted that being an out and open lesbian is easy for her, especially since she lives in the queer district in Washington, DC and she works for HRC, which means "job security." These luxuries make it easy for her to laugh off people like Fred Phelps, who arrived at KSU with a picture of mascot Willie the Wildcat eating Gingrich’s head because she’s "a fag."