 Welcome back to Yankees batting practice today presented by Audi prior to tonight's first pitch The Yankees will celebrate New York's legacy of pride and will recognize the third annual Yankees Stonewall scholar winners for 2021 Yankees senior vice president Jean Afterman Stonewall in co-owner and gives back initiative CEO Stacey Lentz Along with MLB VP special assistant to the commissioner Billy Bean Recently sat down to offer insight encouragement and lead an open discussion with some of this year's Yankees Stonewall scholars Greetings everybody. Good morning from the West Coast. Good afternoon to the East Coast This is a wonderful opportunity for us all to get together this is our third Stonewall scholars and In the past year we were all on zoom and could never meet each other the first year We will a we were able to greet each other at the stadium then have a celebration at the Stonewall in know each other and Create lifelong friendship So we're hoping that we can have a conversation today that will sort of be a hybrid because we're kind of in a hybrid world And today is an opportunity for you to ask Stacey and myself some questions So maybe you can get to know us a little bit better But I I want to say hello To Daniel and Ryan and Christine each and every one of you made Such a profound impact upon me Christine what was your first reaction when you found out that you had one and who did you who are you able to share it with That means a lot to you. I just felt like an overwhelming sense of relief Um Well college I am very grateful for the opportunity it is very much a lot and being being able to get this opportunity has brought more peace to me than you could ever imagine and The first person I told was my school nurse nurse Danielle And she was probably one of the first adults who ever fully accepted me as me In like everything that made me me and I wouldn't be the person I am today without her So I'm eternally grateful for her and her presence. Well, let's say hello to Ryan. You said something that Gave me goosebumps, you know when you said it, you know, so so wise for your years You said you don't need to be related to someone to relate to them that quote comes from Throughout my years of listening to music. There's many lyrics that Stand out to me and that's one of the lyrics from one of the songs that I listen to often It's about you don't need to be Personally related to someone in order to understand their experiences and understand in their shoes and like you said, that's what allies Most likely have to do when they are trying to understand our experiences and any other group So, yeah, that's what that came from and Thank you so much too. It's an amazing opportunity and everything What does it felt like daniel since you found out that you want? Tell us a little bit. What did it when you were talking to your family? Talking to your friends at school. What's been the reaction overall? um It was there. I mean, I cried when I heard the first time so and I I am still speechless just as I was on the first day after I found out I guess The main question I have is that um I mean baseball is a pretty major sport and uh It is quite often very hard to push new initiatives through the different stages of the administration management and What was it like to push this specific initiative through the whole? You know the whole sports bureaucratic layer Was it hard? Was it? What was it like our group led by brian smith and jason zillow my general manager brian cashman and myself You know what's most important to the yankees is not just one night, but the future and so Also the education of young people the education, you know old people listening to young people So, um, you know the yankees thought that it would be more substantive If we invested in the future of the lgbtq plus youth So once we once we were focused once brian smith and jason zillow and and brian cashman You know formulated this and discussed it at length with our owner house steinbrenner You know then the yankees were all in and we were very fortunate to reach out to the stone wall in and the stone wall Gibbs back initiative as our partners and also to the new york department of education So once once it came once the vision actually crystallized Then it was very easy to pull together because it really is all about what you know for us the stone wall initiative Touches everything that the yankees, you know want to support and also is an ongoing initiative You know you carry the message into the future and that's what's most important On behalf of the yankees. I just wanted to say thank you to all of you You know every uh, we we see you we hear you and we believe in you. So, um, you know Go forward. We're gonna and you're not gonna. You know, you're gonna be yankees for life. So You're not done with us yet