1st transgender elected official in Virginia
8 Nov 2017 5:00 PM GMT
Washington: An American Democrat made history by becoming Virginia's — and possibly the nation's — first openly transgender state delegate, winning her bid for a seat in the legislature.
In a campaign that garnered national attention, musician and former journalist Danica Roem, 33, prevailed in her race against Republican Robert Marshall, who has served as a delegate for a quarter century and once referred to himself as Virginia's "chief homophobe."
With 95 percent of the vote counted, Roem was leading with 55 per cent of the vote against Marshall's 45 per cent.
The Gay & Lesbian Victory Fund described Roem as the only out transgender person in US history to win a seat in a state legislature.
"Tonight voters chose a smar t, solutions-oriented trans leader over a divisive anti-LGBTQ demagogue, sending a powerful message to anti-trans legislators all across the nation," Victory Fund president Aisha Moodie-Mills said in a statement.
Roem rode to victory on strong fundraising by the Victory Fund and other pro-LGBT groups and voters, which helped her grass-roots effort to raise awareness of her campaign in Virginia's Prince William County.
She will now serve two years in the House of Delegates in Richmond, where Democrats gained several seats yesterday and appeared close to seizing control of the legislature from Republicans.
The former journalist emphasised last month that she was not entering politics to be an LGBTQ symbol, under a president who recently banned transgender people from serving in the military.
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