Shine for the rest of your life tamron we are back now at megan phelpsroper whose family started the Westboro Baptist church, known as a hate group that is protested samesex marriagewhich included a protesting at funerals for fallen soldiers. So you are telling audiences at home and hear how you are now on twitter, 2009, you are running into people who are challenging what you have been told your entire life and some of it is starting to click to you. Exactly. The fineness internal inconsistency. Westboro ideology is a very closed system so any arguments that would cause you to doubt the primary things we believe which was that the bible was the literal and infallible word of god and westboro has the only true interpretation of it and anything else was wrong. And egg argument that came from the outside of it we couldnt hear it. We had all these bible verses to dismiss those things but the fact that it was an internal can inconsistency that was a thread that began to unravel the rest of it. Tamron so slowly strangers start to help you change the way you have been raised to think. One of them was someone you eventually fell in love with. Exactly. My husband, chad, he is, so davids arguments were very theological and very rational. Tamron david was the person that reached out to you initially. Exactly. My husband saw some news article about the church and sent me a mean tweet and he was an anonymous stranger at the time. He was completely anonymous for the first seven months we were communicating on twitter. Hiarguments come he was trying to understand where the church was coming from and i was throwing all these bible verses at him but his response was he would go and look up the verses and say i see these are here but particularly had a problem with the funeral protests and he would be constantly forcing me to think about the effect that we were having on the families. He would constantly push me, but what about the families. For me that was, again we had learned to totally dismiss other peoples feelings. We literally had a sign that says god hates your feelings. Any thought or feeling you had that went against westboro ideology was a thought or feeling against god himself. Tamron so you are now having strangers infiltrate your mind. You took this back to your family at westborough, did they reject you . It was a process. As these doubts are piling up it finally came to a moment where i realized what if we are just people . What if this is not an institution led by god himself. Tamron when you told the elders that what did they say . It didnt happen like that. If i were to come out and say that i wouldve been kicked out immediately. I wasnt at that point ready to completely reject everything. This is what i mean. Its changing minds, especially that were raised in this environment where it was all in questionable, it was a terrifying thing to ask those questions even in my own mind even to acknowledge the question mind self. This is a gradual thing i would go and ask these questions and there was no answer. They would point to the things that justify their possession but not to address the contradiction. Tamron take me to the moment where you thought i can no longer negotiated with them. Ive got to leave. It started with a conversation i was having with my sister. Over time we eventually came to realize that we needed to leave. We started saving family recipes and photos and taking voice recordings, we were a very tightknit family and the realization that were going to be completely cut off from them, it made us want to delay as long as we could in hopes that something drastic would change, that we would be able to convince the church in these subtle ways. Tamron you saw that wasnt possible. Exactly. There came a day when there was another member of the church, another person who had been part of the church and we had told her about o plans to leave and sheent s email to my parents and told them. They called us into their room and we sat down and they start reading this email and i realized we cant pretend, there is nothing that we can do except leave and try to change things from the outside. Tamron when we come back we will talk to megan about how she decided to change things from the outside. How this is all impacted her life as a mom now, her own family and what she sees as the future that does not include hate. Stay with us. [applause] want to be part of our live studio audience . Get your free tickets and go to tamronhallshow. Com and click onv tamron we are back with megan phelpsroper, former member of the infamous Westboro Baptist church. Her book, unfollow a memoir of loving and leaving the Westboro Baptist church. You told us you fell in love with somebody you met online. The part of this revolution, you are now a mom. What do you teach your child . What do you believe now . I believe in people. I believe in the power of Human Connection to change hearts and minds. I believe in christ, and i tamron whered he on samesex marriage . I am absolutely forward. Love is love. Tamron maam i know you had a question can you stand up . Whats your name . My name is cecily. I am a member of an Interfaith Community and i know that the westboro church, they frown upon other religion so i really wanted to find out now your expanded view of god in terms of inclusiveness, in terms of all of the world religions. I am not religious anymore. Tamron do you believe in god anymore . No. All those things i mentioned those are the things i feel passionate about now. Ive done a lot of work with Interfaith Group since i left westboro. I think its really important to be open. This is one of the things that has become a foundation of my life, this idea of the importance of doubt. The importance of recognizing that we can have our beliefs and believe and think strongly but to recognize that there are things outside of our experience. Tamron you dont practice any religion at this point . No. Tamron you feel thats the healthiest way for you to move forward . For me es. Tamron does anybody from the westboro keep contact . Now . No. Tamron are you at peace with that . I still reach out to them. I reach out to them partly to show them that i love them, the people on the outside are not what they are taught. And also time try and change minds. Tamron years dori is inspirational. You changed a lot of minds about you. We want to thank megan phelpsroper for sharing her incredible journey. We also want to, i have to say this, thank you to the men and women who serve our country whose families had to sit there and watch their loved ones funerals be protested. We are here with you as well. Thank you megan. Unfollow a memoir of loving and leaving the Westboro Baptist church is available and members of our audience, you are all going home with a copy of the book. [applause] up next we are going to meet one of americas youngest legend players come is he a part of the future . The future including living in his moms basement while running for office. Thats when you have to see it when we right back. We are talking with truck superstar alec del mike ellis and felix. She says shes being punished for being pregnant. Now shes working to change the double standard for women in sports and beyond on the next Tamron Hall Tamron every day someone is saying wheres the government going, what is happening around here. Apparently its going to the kids if we are lucky. Our next guest was just 18 years old and a senior in high school when he became one of the state of new yorks youngest elected officials. He won the election by a landslide 82 of the vote. Just six weeks before his senior prom. Hes running a campaign while living it in his parents basement, how does he do it all . Please welcome legislator josh lafazan. Thank you so much for joining us. You are a senior in high school and you decided to take on the system why . I felt on the school board of nine we should have at least one representative of the student body. More importantly we had a superintendent of the School District of 6,000 kids who made more money than the president of the united states. The arrays at the same time as our teachers took a pay decrease. Tamron you said the superintendent was about to get more money and even though im a senior and has gone not going to stand up like this. Correct because youre never too young to do something in this life. My father, when i announced i was going to run for the school board i was cast aside for pursuing the worst life plan ever. Youre throwing away your life. My father gave me a piece of sage advice that i not bestowing to my interns. If not you, who . Meaning if youre in a position to take forward action and you dont, not only are you derelict in your responsibility to others you are derelict in your responsibility to yourself so i felt at 18, which i did and im just going to say that i could be an asset to the school board i was telling myself. Tamron you want and you became your teachers boss question marks because i was an interesting june. I too month of june. I was to take the oath of office and plan my senior prom i was student president. My teachers didnt know what to do. It was a weird time. Tamron they didnt know what to call you . It was an interesting time. Tamron you are living in the basement, you are a senior so where else are you going to live other than with your parents but how does that change you as far as her development, your socialization . You are supposed to be hanging out at the prime and the boss. I promised my constituents i would stay home and college and i enrolled in Community College and got into harvard, i was at harvard for one night a week. Were you destined for this . Your body language, your body language youve got the political think. Friday nights im reading emails while my friends are partying. My grandfather is. Im so blessed to be living in this country and have a position where i get to wake up every day and my only job is to make my community better. Whos got a better than me . And i know someone who has it better than you, your two interns. They are 12 as of yesterday. The twins here. Come on over. [applause] okays youre going to politics can you hand me that microphone . You guys are interns can use in talking on. You are interns . Yes. Tamron you put the microphone up, you are going to be fired. He is young and he wants other people to let other people know that anybody can do anything at any age at any time. Tamron did he make you feel that way . Yes. Tamron your twins and you turned 12 . Are you going to run for office . May be. Who knows. Tamron are you the talker and he is the communication behind the scenes guy . Depends on the day. Tamron i love that answer. I ask you what are your Job Responsibilities as an intern for the youngest elected official in the state . We help with this campaign on certain nights and after school some of us will make postcards. On weekends we will go knock doortodoor. Tamron dont get too far into this because then they get union things i dont think you can work that much without getting paid. Think you guys for joining us i really appreciate it. [applause] so you pass ten bills into law as of yesterday, what is next for you after this . I know this is a political answer but my next goal is to continue to deliver for my constituents. I make no secret about my ambition to run for higher office. I dont think ambition should be a bad thing and i think if i need to get from point a to point b have to do such a good job at point a and because im young i have to be perfect every single day in this job. Tamron do you have time for dating . If you know a nice girl have her give me a call. I might have some free time after election day. Tamron thats a very smart political answer. You were born to do this, josh. Thank you so much good luck to your interns. I have faith that you want to come over and work on the tamron hall show as well. Up next we are going to share your comments. Yesterday was a very powerful show. We spoke to the father of the boy who was been missing for many of years. Many of you reached out to talk to us online we are going to see what you had to say in social media. We will be right back. This person was revealed to be an imposter so you and your family are back again and so many ways a square one. Youre back to looking for timothy which he never stopped doing after all these years. Hes alive somewhere i know is alive. [applause] tamron that was a clip for yesterdays show with jim pitzen come hes the father of tim pitzen who went missing eight years ago and so many of you responded to that interview on social media and i have some of the comments. Somebody said theres a cruelty and getting ones hopes up just to be shattered again. I wish for his closure and reunion with timothy. Another one wrote as i watch and hear about the number of missing children i can only feel blessed to survive the streets. This is monstrous. I could never understand why anybody could or would hurt a child. But the number 800,000 children in this country are missing, thats what we reported. Allow another person left but not least love that he knows that his son is alive. There is not a show but an organization, many of them worked tirelessly to help track down missing children whatever the circumstances. We want to thank jim and i have to say my thoughts and prayers are with the family, that little girl in alabama, cupcake, did not end the way we wanted to. Our thoughts are with you in the entire in alabama. We will be right back. Announcer closed captioning provided by t tamroorrow on the show nighttime olympic medalist alex felix is here no, no, no jingle bells. Whats your deadline . Whats your start date . December. Lets start in december. I have mixed feelings. I have mixed feelings. Oh my goodness, already . We just want to rush the year. Nah, we just like the holiday cheer. Give me some cheer. Ow, ow. Yall, shes been beating me up. Janai never touches me. Im going to get an hr complaint and never be allowed back here. Never, never. Youre always welcome. Hey, thanks. Coming up, the latest horror film just in time for halloween that neither of us are going to want to see. No, not at all. First, our own James Longman goes inside chechnya, making a stunning admission to the head of the countrys police force during a reported brutal crackdown on gay men and women. The stunning rescue after a woman was stuck in her submerged car for 10 hours. If youre age 50 to 85, and looking to buy Life Insurance on a fixed budget, remember the three ps. What are the three ps . The three ps of Life Insurance on a fixed budget are price, price, and price. A price you can afford, a price that cant increase, and a price that fits your budget. Im 54. Alex, whats my price . You can get coverage for 9. 95 a month. Im 65 and take medications. Whats my price . Also 9. 95 a month. I just turned 80. Whats my price . 9. 95 a month for you too. If youre age 50 to 85, call now about the 1 most popular whole Life Insurance plan, available through the Colonial Penn program. It has an affordable rate starting at 9. 95 a month. No medical exam, no health questions. Your acceptance is guaranteed. And this plan has a guaranteed lifetime rate lock, so your rate can never go up for any reason. So call now for free information. And youll also get this free beneficiary planner. And its yours just for calling. So call now. Frustrated that clean clothes you want to wear always seem to need an iron . Next time try bounce wrinkle guard dryeeets. Just toss it in the dryer to bounce out wrinkles. We dried these shorts with bounce wrinkle guard, and a pair without. The bounce wrinkle guard shorts have fewer wrinkles and static, and more softness. Its the worlds first mega sheet that does the job of three dryer sheets. It also comes in unscented. Well give you your money back. Bounce wrinkle guard, shhhh. I took mucinex dm for my phlegmy cough. What about robs dry cough . Works on that too. And lasts 12 hours. 12 hours . who studies that long . only mucinex dm relieves wet and dry coughs for 12 hours with 2 medicines in 1 pill. Were back with this frightening video from kershaw county, south carolina. A sheriffs deputy was struck while directing traffic at an elementary school. Investigators say the drive later admitted he was distracted and looking at his cell phone. Remarkably Deputy Chelsea cockrell is okay. You see her there, she flashed that big thumbs up sign at the hospital. Cockrell has been released. The driver is facing several charges including texting while driving. So glad shes okay. A florida mans kayaking trip turned into a rescue mission. Authorities say a woman accidentally drove into the water after making a wrong turn. The 81yearold was trapped in the partially submerged car for at least 10 hours. Rob goodman spotted the woman and called 911. Another man opened the car door and both worked together to free her. She is in stable condition. An armored truck guard died after being shot in the face during an ambush in houston. The guard was completing a Money Transfer at a popeyes restaurant when three men opened fire. Witnesses say the guard struggled with the suspects before being shot. Authorities say the suspects took the money and fled. Police are searching for them. A revolver was recovered at the scene. Overseas in the russia republic of chechnya, an independent report says amid rumors of assassination attempts, chechnyas rulers are turning on his own officials. It comes amid other reports of violent purges of members of the Gay Community as well as other human rights activists. Abcs James Longman is there. Reporter after reports of whats described as a purge of lgbt people in chechnya, we traveled there. Its been called a police state, a place fiercely loyal to vladimir putin. There are reports of hundreds of gay men and women allegedly kidnapped, tortured, abused at the hands of the chechnyan government. Amin escaped the country. He was working as a hairdresser when he says police yanked him from his salon and threw him in prison where he says he was tortured and electrocuted over 14 days. That guy chambered his gun and put it right here on my head. What was going through your mind at that moment . I dont know. Something died. Reporter despite global outcry in 2017, fresh victims have continued to come forward. We met this general, head of the police force accused of rounding up and torturing hundreds of lgbt people, allegations he flatly denies. He takes us to see a chechen prison. Thats what you would say to human rights campaigners who say these men and men like them are responsible for atrocities . Reporter ive reported around the world as a gay man. In chechnya ive kept it