“Now.. My appearance tonight might come as a shock to many of you. Sure, I could have worn a real show-stopper of an outfit and talked smack about Lynnette and reminded you all how you tried to kill me and maybe you could vote for me to try and clear your conscience but instead, I stand before you. And I’m stripped of all my usual bells and whistles. Just a clean-scrubbed face. To show you that I’m not so different from you despite your protestations despite mine. You can call me a freak. Okay. I am what I am. You’re all freaks too, I mean.. Look at you. Isn’t that what being a teenager is all about? I think that we’re all pretty worried that we’re not gonna fit in. That if people found out the real us they would reject us, they would recoil in horror. That they’d all hate us. And we all carry around some kind of secret shame. We’ve each got a flag to fly. Just some of us are flying them on the inside. So, I am asking you to look inside that secret place where your freak flag flies and raise it up.. Loud.. And proud. Look, I know I have not been here for very long but I am asking for a tradition to take place now. A tradition of inclusion. Of acceptance. Of tolerance. Love who you’re gonna love. Follow whatever path it is that makes you be the person that you are. I… I’ve got one thing to ask tonight when you cast your ballot. Vote for me. You’re voting for the freak in all of us. You’re voting for the freak that stands before you but you’re voting for.. The freak in each and every one of you. That’s all.” - Freak Show (2017)
