The mother shared beautiful quotes from her favorite authors during the speech and hoped for something beautiful for her daughter.
A parent who supports their children through thick and thin and accepts them the way they are is perhaps every child's dream. Maggie Hesketh, the 30-year-old daughter, saw such a dream come true when her mom gave a speech about the "gay agenda" during her wedding and left the entire audience emotional. "I want to celebrate these beautiful people," the mom, Kelli Dalton, expressed as she began her speech. "I want to talk to you all about the gay agenda," she said amongst the biggest round of cheers from the audience. The video of the speech was shared by Kelsie Lee–who goes by @kelsielee4 on TikTok.
The mom waved the pride flag much to the excitement of her daughter, who was one of the brides. "I was just gonna say that I am kidding, but I am actually not. Bare with me because this is our family's first gay wedding and hopefully not the last one." A woman in the audience jumped and rejoiced as Dalton's speech continued. "But speaking of the gay agenda, I do want to share that with you guys." She added, "I realize that I am mostly preaching to the choir here, hopefully. But the gay agenda is simply to be loved and accepted and even celebrated as is." She continued, "Just like anyone else- without having to change or be changed, that's it." She shared that her favorite qualities about the brides, Katie and Maggie, was that they were both authentically themselves.
"Maggie and I share a fierce love for a talented author, Glennon Doyle, and I had to do quotes because I love quotes and I was told that my speech was three minutes, so I had to do some quotes," Dalton shared. "As I was reflecting on my first child getting married and all the things that I may have done right or wrong as a parent to get to this day because we've all done that." She went on, "If you are a parent, this quote truly speaks to me because if we all heed this advice, it would truly change the world." The quote read, "What of parenting became less about telling our children who they should be and more about asking them again and again forever who they already are. Then, when they tell us, we would celebrate instead of concede."
"It's not, 'I love you regardless or which of my expectations you meet or don't meet instead it's 'my only expectation is that you become yourself,'" Dalton remarked. "The more deeply I know you, the more beautiful you become to me." The mom shared another quote by Renee Brown on relationships. "There can be no intimacy without vulnerability. One of the reasons there's such an intimacy deficit today is because we don't know how to be vulnerable. It's about being honest about how we feel about our fears and about what we need. Vulnerability is a glue that holds intimate relationships together. Love always wins and let's go, Denver lesbians," Dalton ended her speech.
People appreciated the mom's speech. @kara_rose_paints wrote, "As a daughter who has never been truly seen by my parents and always given expectations and conditions, I am so envious and also happy for her children. This is beautiful." @katiekalberg commented, "Quotes from my two favorite authors that both helped make me feel brave enough to be me! Such a beautiful speech!" @moyg11 remarked, "Just got married there too. I think we saw you guys on our way out! Congrats and what a beautiful speech."
You can follow Kelsie Lee (@kelsielee4) on TikTok for more lifestyle content.