Caroline Manzo: Why I Support My Gay Brother's Marriage

People.com:

When celebrity chef and designer Jaime Laurita wed his husband Rich Lane last summer at their home outside Chicago, his sister, Caroline Manzo, gave a poignant speech that brought tears to the grooms' eyes.

That speech, which you can watch below now, will air on Bravo's The Real Housewives of New Jersey Sunday (10 p.m. ET).

"I was thrilled," New Jersey's tough yet tender matriarch Manzo says of finding out her brother was going to tie the knot. "Everybody wants to feel accepted, loved, at peace, at home in their life choices. It was great ... for him and Rich to finally feel like their relationship is recognized."

Manzo says she has always supported her brother, even if finding out he was gay worried her at first. "I know that people can be cruel and unkind," she thought when he came out to her. "There are people who just don't understand his sexuality ... I don't want him to live his life this way being judged."

Now, says Manzo, "We're positive about it. We embrace it."

In fact, she's even made an appearance in Chicago's gay bar scene with her brother and her brother-in-law, whom she calls "very endearing, very funny."

"Rich and Jaime and myself and [my daughter] Lauren spent the night gay bar hopping and we had the best time in the world," she says. 

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