Being a Democrat in Texas is no easy thing: Coming out as a Democratic judge on the Texas appellate court is darn near impossible.

But last weekend judge Terry Jennings announced he was quitting the Republican Party and switching his party affiliation to Democrat. The decision was a long coming, he says, but crystalized after he officiated a same-sex wedding.

Guests told him they were surprised a Republican judge would do that.

“That’s when I started thinking, ‘Well maybe I’m not in the right party then,’” he told the Houston Press.

The GOP's further turn rightward and the xenophobic rhetoric of Donald Trump made it impossible for Judge Jennings to follow his heart. Even his college-aged children asked him how he could still identify as a Republican.

“You've heard the common expression a thousand times: 'I didn't leave my party; my party left me.' And it's true.”

Jennings, who took the bench 16 years ago, shared the news at a Democratic Party fundraising dinner on Saturday.

"My values and principles have not changed since 2000, but those of the Republican party have," he told donors.

"Over the years, I have watched this great nation, in all its diversity, grow richer and stronger. In 2008, I was excited when we elected our first black president. Too many Republicans were not. As the father of two daughters, and the son of a woman born before the ratification of the 19th Amendment, I am equally excited that we are about to elect our first woman president. Too many Republicans are not."

"I appreciate and embrace that we are a nation of immigrants, of individuals of many different faiths and ethnicities — all one people under our Constitution — all of whom are guaranteed equal protection under the law," he added. "Too many Republicans do not."

Jennings is now the lone Democrat on the First Court of Appeals in Texas, where Republicans make up 51 out of 73 judges on the state's 14 courts of appeal.

h/t: Huffington Post