Three Trans Peeps Running To Become Vermont Legislators

I've been saying for a while now that trans folks need to be on the legislative bodies that the local, state and national level writing the laws instead of being oppressed by them.

There are currently just 27 trans people across the United States who are elected public officials.

Four of them, VA Del Danica Roem,  CO Rep Brianna Titone, and NH Reps  Lisa Bunker and Gerri Cannon are state reps.  Roem made the history back in 2018 of being the first trans rep to be reelected to office.  Titone, the first out trans state rep elected west of the Mississippi River, is trying to replicate in Colorado what Roem accomplished and get reelected o her seat 

Titone faces the woman she beat by 439 votes, Vicki Pyne in a general election rematch.

In Delaware, Sarah McBride is making what she hopes will be a historic run for a state senate seat. 
She does have a Democratic primary opponent, and will need to clear that hurdle before getting to the general election.   If she is successful, she will become the first out trans person ever elected to a state senate seat in the US.

And yes, have to shout out Minneapolis councilmembers Andrea Jenkins and Phillipe Cunningham for being elected and serving together on the Minneapolis City Council.   It is a legislative body that in the wake of the George Floyd murder by cop, is getting more national attention lately for what they have decided to do what the council voted to do with their out of control police department.

Councilmembers Jenkins and Cunningham are n addition to being the first out African American trans people elected to any office and the first elected since Althea Garrison in 1990, are the first trans people ever elected to a large metro city council of over 250K population.

All of that to say that seeing trans people getting elected to office has not only motivated people to think about running for office at all levels of government (yeah I'm seriously considering it) , to actually handling their business and doing it.

In Vermont, three people inspired by Christine Hallquist's 2018 run for governor are stepping up to run in the August Democratic primaries for state rep in their local communities.  If they successfully get out of the primary elections and win in the general, they would become the first out trans folks elected as state legislators in Vermont.

In case you're wondering, the 150 seat Vermont House of Representatives chamber as of this writing has had a Democratic majority since 2004.   It currently stands at 95-43, with seven seats held by the Vermont Progressive  Party and five more by independents

Taylor Small of Winooski, is the health and wellness director of the Pride Center of Vermont.  She is running against incumbent Chittenden 6-7 rep Hal Coston and Jordan Matte in the Dem primary.  Small is focusing her campaign on public health and affordable housing

Ember Quinn is a substitute teacher running in Milton against Emily Hecker in the Democratic primary for the Chittenden 10 seat.   It has a Republican incumbent .Quinn's campaign focus is economic equity and LGBTQ education in public schools

Manchester business owner Jamie Dufour is taking on incumbent Kathleen James and Seth Bongartz for the Bennington 4 seat, and is focusing her on uplifting small business owners like herself.

While each of them would love to make that history, they stated they are in this race to help their potential constituents.   They are all proud trans women, but want voters to focus on the policy and not their trans status.

I hope that all of them win their primaries and the general on November 3 and they get to make that history.  I would love to see them taking the oath of office when the Vermont House convenes in 2021.

Thai Trans Businesswoman Running To Become Thailand's Prime Minister

Been saying for a while that trans people in the US needed to run for public office so that we help craft the laws that govern us.

Out trans cousins around the world are adopting the same attitude, and since 1999 in six nations, New Zealand (Georgina Beyer), Italy (Vladimir Luxuria), Uruguay (Michelle Suarez) , Poland (Anna Grodzka), Venezuela (Tamara Adrian)  and the Philippines (Geraldine Roman), trans people have managed to get themselves elected to their national legislatures with others falling short of doing so. 

Now comes word from Thailand that a trans person is aiming to lead their national government..

Before she transitioned, 52 year old Pauline Ngarmpring was a corporate CEO, parent  and a sports promoter who was well known in the world of Thai soccer.  Now she finds herself on the verge of being a potential trans political history maker, and she's eagerly accepting that challenge. 

Ngarmpring wants to bring hope to the transgender and other marginalized communities of Thailand and pave the way for the next generation of trans and same gender loving politicians in the Land of Smiles.

She's fine if she doesn't win, because in her words, "she was the first one who dares enough to announce 'hey, we can do this'."

"We are not saying we are better than male or female," says Ngarmpring. "We are just want to say we are equal ."

She is one of three candidates put forward by the Mahachon Party for prime minister in the upcoming March 24 general elections despite only having been a member of it since November

The Mahachon Party hopes its human rights platform that includes legalizing prostitution,  will appeal to Thailand's large TBLGQ and sex worker population .

In those elections 200 of the 500 seats in the Thai House of Representatives are being contested by the party, and 20 of the candidates it has put forward are openly part of the TBLGQ community.

Ngarmpring since her transition three years ago has taken on the personal mission of educating Thai society.   But there are people who view TBLGQ rights and her candidacy with skepticism.

Sometimes political fortune and history favors those who are bold enough to act.   We'll see if Pauline Ngarmpring makes history next month. 

Trans America Has a Great 2018 Election Night

The political junkie in me was up late watching returns and election coverage until I finally called it a night at 3 AM.   While I was focused on Texas, local and some key national races, I also had a nervous eye cast in the direction of Massachusetts to see what was happening with Question 3.

After a trans non discrimination law was passed in 2016 with public accommodations language, the Axis of Anti-trans Evil in the Bay State gathered signatures to put it on the ballot.

It was the first time we'd had a trans rights law put on the ballot for potential repeal, and the stakes were high surrounding Question 3.  A loss using the same bathroom predator attacks in a blue state means that us red state folks would probably spend 2019 fighting a red tide of anti-trans referenda.  A win means our Massachusetts trans and GNC fam keep that hard fought for law.

The national trans community justifiably saw this as a must win referendum.  Laverne Cox, VA Del Danica Roem, Trans United Fund and other people went to the state to help the YES on 3 team get what turned out to be a huge win for American transkind as the Trump misadministration is preparing to ramp up anti-trans oppression.

Question 3 was a resounding win for the trans community  1.5 million Massachusetts voters, or 67.7 percent, voted YES to preserve the current anti-discrimination law and support transgender rights. About 700,000 people or 32.3 percent, voted NO.

While the Massachusetts Question 3 referendum was the big news for Trans Election Night 2018, we also had in New Hampshire two more trans women get elected to state legislatures.

Gerri Cannon and Lisa Bunker were elected to the New Hampshire House.  Cannon finished second in the Stafford County District 18 race.  Bunker will represent Rockingham County after she won in District 18, that includes the city of Exeter.

Brianna Titone's race in Colorado is too close to call at this moment.  She's trailing by 400 votes in the race for the open Arvada area HD-27 seat    In another open seat race in Montana's HD 52, Amelia Marquez is trailing Republican Rodney Garcia by just 205 votes

As for the other trans candidates in this cycle, Christine Hallquist's bid to become the first ever trans governor fell short in Vermont, but she got an impressive 40% of the vote. 

Martin Rawlings- Fein and Mia Satya fell short in their San Francisco school board races,

In my home state of Texas, Finnigan Jones got 44% of the vote, but lost to incumbent Republican Tony Tinderholt.    The Austin City Council races also didn't break Danielle Skidmore's or Jessica Cohen's way in their respective council district races.

So we trans Texans are still waiting for our first elected trans officeholder.

So while we had a great night, it definitely could have been a lot better.   These close races will eventually break our way and result in more trans people getting elected and #TransformingPolitics when we do so. 

But we did take more steps toward making that political day happening

Virginia Del. Danica Roem Sworn In Today

Today was the day that Danica Roem made history by being officially sworn in along with the rest of her colleagues in the Virginia House of Delegates. 

Del Roem (D-Manassas) became the first openly trans person to be elected and seated to a state legislature since Althea Garrison served one term in the Massachusetts House in 1992 

Ironically that was the same year Bob Marshall, who Roem handily beat last November, was elected to the district that Roem now represents.

Marshall was one of the more outspoken opponents of TBLGQ rights and earned the nickname 'Bigot Bob' for his longtime efforts to use his powers to legislate oppression against the Virginia TBLGQ community.

Who controls the Virginia House is still very much in doubt asn wo close races are headed to court to hopefully be resolved.   The Republicans for now have a 51-49 edge in the chamber pending the results of the court cases.

But today I'm focused on Del. Roem's historic achievement.   She's already filed ten bills, many of them focused on he campaign promise to fix the traffic problems on Route 28, and will soon find out her committee assignments as this session continues.

Two Texas Transmen Are Running For Office!

We have had since the 80's several trans women run for office in various parts of Texas.   Jenifer Rene Pool made history in the 2016 cycle by becoming the first out Texas trans person to win a party primary in the Lone Star State.

We even have a trans woman in Jess Herbst who serves is the mayor of New Hope, TX in the DFW metro area.

With the breakthrough electoral wins of Danica Roem to the VA state legislature and Andrea Jenkins and Phillipe Cunningham to the Minneapolis City Council, in light of the Republican led legislative attacks upon our community, we have had more trans people deciding to step up and run for public office.

And if yo're wondering about moi, I'm thinking about it.

The GOP majority in the Texas House is maintained in large part because many of those Republican legislators are running unopposed in their House.  In order to change that dynamic, we are going to need good people to run for office as Democrats.   

The Texas GOP War on Transpeople in the last regular and Special Oppression Session has motivated two trans men to step up in different parts of the state to run for state legislative seats during the 2018 election cycle.

And yeah, I know both of these amazing men  I wish them the best of luck in #TransformingDemocracy and our state legislature.

In the Houston metro area, Dylan Wilde Forbis has stepped up to run against incumbent Republican state rep Ed Thompson in District 29 in the Pearland area.

On the other end of I-45 Finnigan 'Finn' Jones is taking on District 94 Republican incumbent Tony Tinderholt in the Arlington area.   Tinderholt is a proud member of the far right Texas Freedom Caucus.   

With the primaries happening in March, Forbis and Jones are ramping up their campaigns to raise funds, introduce themselves to the voters in their respective districts and with enough support, win and make Texas electoral history.

If you live in their districts, they can use not only your help, be it financial, as a campaign volunteer and most importantly, your votes.   If you don't, they can always use contributions to their campaigns to fund what they need to do to emerge victorious on Election Day./

Good luck to you Dylan and Finn    Here's hoping I'm calling you Representative Forbis and Representative Jones in November. 

The Long Road To An Out Trans State Rep

Ever since perennial Boston area candidate Althea Garrison ironically accomplished during the 1992 'Year of The Woman' getting elected to her single term as a Massachusetts state legislator and was outed two days later, it has seem as though getting back to having a trans person in a state legislature was the political equivalent of Charlie Brown kicking a football that Lucy was holding for him.

Every time we'd get close to kicking that ball, Lucy would snatch it away at the last second.

So it's why you heard the collective exhale of the entire trans community once the electrifying news of Danica Roem's historic victory began to surface..

But like all achievements, it was built on the shoulders of others who had gone before her, tried mightily to accomplish the task but failed. 

In 2004 the first serious attempt to break that political glass ceiling happened when Amanda Simpson handily won the Arizona Democratic primary with 57% of the vote to make it to the general election, but was defeated in the general election for the Arizona House District 26 seat.

Amanda Simpson would make history a few years later by getting a presidential appointment and serving with distinction in the Obama Administration in the Commerce Department and as the Assistant Deputy Secretary of Defense.

Getting shadily chopped from the ENDA bill in 2007 and attempts to pass trans rights laws at the local and state legislative level heightened our community urgency to have more trans legislators.

But it wouldn't be until 2010 that two trans people in a red state and a blue state accepted the challenge of running for their state legislatures. 

In Oklahoma Brittany Novotny stepped up to run in for the Oklahoma state legislature.  The attorney was taking on a Herculean level political task in running for the Oklahoma City area House District 84 against the notorious homobigot and transphobic incumbent Rep. Sally Kern (R).

Novotny was unopposed in the Democratic primary for HD 84, but despite her best efforts, fell in the general election to Kern.

Meanwhile in Maryland, Dr. Dana Beyer in that 2010 cycle attempted to run for the House District 18 seat against incumbent Jeff Waldstreicher, but was defeated in the crowded Democratic primary.

In 2012 came the first attempt from a Republican trans person to win a legislative seat.

Lauren Scott has made three attempts to win the District 30 seat in the Nevada State Assembly .Scott attempted her first run, got 21% of the vote in a three way race, but was defeated in the primary by Ken Lightfoot.

Then came the surprising news that Stacie Laughton had been elected to the New Hampshire Legislature in a Nashua area district.

But unfortunately mounting personal and legal troubles kept her from actually sitting in the legislative seat she'd won, and she resigned before having an opportunity to be sworn in for it.

In 2014 came another attempt of an Oklahoma based trans woman to run for and win a Oklahoma House seat.   It was another Oklahoma City area seat, but time in the more blue House District 88. It was also retired OKC police officer Paula Sophia who was going to make that run to history.

The seat was being vacated by Rep Al McAffrey, who was attempting to run for Congress and there were including Sophia four candidates in that race.   Since the Oklahoma Republicans didn't even bother to run a candidate for that seat, the person who emerged from the June 24 runoff would win and basically become the next District 88 rep.

Jason Dunnington and Sophia emerged from that in first and second place race to qualify for an August runoff election since Dunnington only received 40% of the vote to Sophia's 23.5% of it.


In the runoff, Sophia missed becoming the first transperson elected to the Oklahoma Legislature by an agonizing 22 votes.  She's flipped the June election script and was leading for most of the night until the last precinct came in with just enough votes for Dunnington to make him the district's next representative.

Dr. Dana Beyer decided to make another attempt in 2014 at running for office, and this time decided to try for the Maryland Senate.   She challenged sitting incumbent Maryland state Senator Rich Madaleno (D) for his Senate District 18 seat. 

Even though she received 41% of the vote in that district, she still lost that primary race to him.

Sen. Madaleno has resigned the seat to run for Maryland governor, and Beyer is attempting another run at it in the 2018 election cycle. 

Lauren Scott made her second run for the Nevada State Assembly as a Republican, and this time she successfully got out of the Republican primary.  She won the District 30 primary with 58% of the vote over Adam Khan.   But despite running in a year in which the Republicans seized control of the Nevada House, she still lost in the general election to incumbent Democratic Assemblyman Michael Sprinkle 53.9% - 46.1%

In 2016, Kim Coco Iwamoto, who had already made history by becoming the first out transperson to be elected to statewide office as a result of her 2006 election to the Hawaii State Board of Education, decided to run for the Hawaii Senate District 13 seat being vacated by the retiring Sen. Suzanne Chun Oakland. 

Iwamoto got 31% of the vote in that Senate District 13 Democratic Primary, but lost to the eventual winner Karl Rhoads.   She currently sits on the Hawaii Human Rights Commission, and has recently announced she will be running to become Hawaii's next lieutenant governor in the 2018 cycle.

In that 2016 cycle Lauren Scott  got a rematch against incumbent Assemblyman Michael Sprinkle when both ran unopposed in their respective party primaries. 

The result of the rematch was worse for Scott, who was blown out by Sprinkle 58%-42%

This is the trans electoral history for our electoral legislative run that preceded last night's triumphant blowout win by Danica Roem.

Here's hoping that Del-Elect Roem will be joined by countless other trans people in their state's legislative chambers because frankly, in a time when Trump and the Republicans are trying to push anti trans legislation and policies, we need them there.

Now There Are Seven Elected Trans National Legislators!

When she tried to get elected to Ecuador's National Assembly back in 2013, it didn't happen that year for Diane Rodriguez.   

But despite the loss, she didn't give up on making that dream of getting elected to office a reality.    On February 19, 2017 the 34 year old Rodriguez became a member of a very small (for now) international sorority in terms of trans feminine politicians who were elected to their national legislatures.

And South America is leading the way.   Of the now seven trans women around the world who have been elected to their national legislatures, three of them,  Michelle Suarez of Uruguay, Tamara Adrian of Venezuela, and now Rodriguez reside on the South American continent.

The others in case you're wondering, are Georgina Beyer of New Zealand, Vladimir Luxuria of Italy, Anna Grodzka of Poland and Geraldine Roman of the Philippines.

Rodriguez ean on a platform of combatting anti-trans workplace discrimination, combatting bullying aimed at transgender students and legalizing adoption for same gender couples. 

It probably also didn't hurt her chances that Ecuadorean trans people were allowed for the first time to vote as their chosen gender.  In Ecuador, man and women wait in separate lines to cast their ballots.

Rodriguez also become a parent in 2015 with her transmasculine partner Machado and a psychologist along the way.  She has received some death threats now that she is an elected politician. 

"Being a public figure comes at a price. But is see that cost is a sacrifice for younger generations so that they don't have to suffer the same experiences that I suffer through now."

As a legislator, she fights against a broad spectrum of injustices, but she hasn't forgotten as a trans person that she is also fighting against her community marginalization in Ecuadorian society, and it her primary legislative focus.

Congratulation to Senator Rodriguez!   Hope it happens soon in my own country. 

Danni Askini Running For Washington State Legislature Seat

The last time a trans woman was elected to a state legislature in the US was back in 1992 when Althea Garrison accomplished it during the legislative 'Year Of The Woman'.  She was nondisclosed when she was elected to a seat in the Massachusetts House, but only lasted one term as she was outed days after her win.

Over the last few election cycles several out trans women have attempted to get elected to state legislatures in Arizona (Amanda Simpson) Maryland (Dana Beyer), Nevada (Lauren Scott) and twice in Oklahoma (Brittany Novotny & Paula Sophia) all to fall just short of doing so.

Stacie Laughton was elected in New Hampshire in 2012, but never served because of undisclosed legal issues.

>With the exponential increase in anti-trans legislation pushed by our right wing enemies, the time has never been more imperative to have trans people in state legislatures helping to not only write good legislation, but be in the position to kill bad bills instead of begging for inclusion or to kill it from the outside.

And if we ever wish to see a trans person elected to the US Congress, viable congressional candidates come from big city councils, judicial benches and state legislatures, and we have to win some of those races to even get political party attention..

Yesterday Danni Askini announced she was going to run for an open Seattle seat in the Washington State legislature in its 43rd house district.   Current state rep Brady Walkinshaw is moving on to attempt a run for a US congressional seat

Danni has been and advocate for 15 years, and was busy in Olympia killing this year's unjust anti-trans bills in the GOP controlled Washington Senate.

Askini is vying to become the first out trans person in Washington state and nationally elected to a state legislative seat.

Hopefully, this will be the breakthrough year that happens, and if it does, it will be right on time for that piece of trans history to occur.

Best of luck to you Danni, and when November 8 comes, hope I'll be writing about a history making moment.

Tamara Adrian Sworn In

Tamara Adrian made history as the first elected trans national legislator in Venezuela, the second in the Western Hemisphere and South America, and only the fifth worldwide.

Now that she has been sworn in, it's official.   She took the oath of office on January 5 and has become a member of a very exclusive sorority of trans feminine politicians who serve in their national legislatures.

As the new rep for Caracas, while Adrian would like to pass a gender identity law, a same sex marriage one, and an anti-discrimination, she is aware that much of the reason she and many of her fellow assemblymembers were elected was to tackle the economic issues that have resulted in 160% inflation. and Venezuela's currency being worthless outside the country despite having oil reserves .

"People are poor now, and poverty has increased a lot this year, "said Adrian.  "But next year, they are going to be hungry if we don't take steps to make the economy better.  Things could come to a head in the first quarter of [2016]"

Let's hope that she and her fellow legislators are successful in tackling that problem