Amina Matheny-Willard is a career public defender who is running against two prosecutors to be Norfolk, Virginia’s Commonwealth Attorney mostly because of her experiences raising two Black LGBTQ sons, the oldest she has been defending since he was 14. “Vetreal Winstead is my first born son,” Matheny-Willard told the Washington Blade during an emotional phone interview last month. “He is 28 years old, bisexual, and has a lot of mental health and substance abuse issues, mainly marijuana.” Her younger son Jai, who identifies as a 23-year-old transgender Black man, prides himself on having been school-focused and far less of a worry to his mother.