Gay Daughter Joins Gephardt Campaign

W A S H I N G T O N, June 9 -- — Chrissy Gephardt tried to keep her true feelings a secret for nearly a year — until she realized she had to come clean and tell her husband and her prominent political father that she is gay.

Gephardt says she vividly remembers the day that forever changed her life.

"I met this woman at school, Amy [Loder]. "We were having coffee one day at a coffee shop in St. Louis and she said, 'Chrissy, there's something I need to tell you … ... I'm gay.' And my heart started racing," Gephardt said on ABCNEWS' Good Morning America.

"I felt like it was coming out of my chest. And I was like, oh, my goodness, that's it. That's exactly what this is. I have an absolute crush on her," she said.

Gephardt tried to keep her feelings a secret. She didn't want to hurt her husband or her father's political career. Rep. Dick Gephardt, D-Mo., is making a run for the presidency in 2004.

"I thought there's no way that I could ever bring this to my parents. Because it would ruin my father's career … that's when I decided that I would just keep it a secret, and try to make it go away," she said.

Crush Leads to Confession

As her friendship with Loder grew, Chrissy said she was finding it more and more difficult to keep her true feelings a secret.

"I finally came out and told her," Gephardt said. "She [Loder] was kind of scared. I was married … and she knew my husband," she said.

Gephardt finally broke the news to the man she still calls her best friend. "I told him and the rest is history," she said.

After the 30-year-old social worker broke the news to her husband two years ago, she prepared for what she thought would be an even more frightening conversation with her parents.

"Here were people who have been with me since the day I was born, who love me unconditionally. And I would have to say to them, 'I'm not who you think I am,'" she said.

Chrissy Gephardt said she expected that her family would want to keep the truth about her sexuality a secret, for political reasons. But her admission brought the kind of reaction she never expected — total and complete acceptance.