New Hampshire Elects Nation's First Out Trans Lawmaker
Source: Buzzfeed
New Hampshire became the first state in the nation to elect an out transgender person to its statehouse on Tuesday, when Stacie Laughton won a seat in the New Hampshire House of Representatives.
She only will be one of 400 House members, but she told The (Nashua) Telegraph that she hoped her election would inspire others.
"I believe that at this point, the LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender) community will hopefully be inspired," she said. "My hope is that now maybe we’ll see more people in the community running, maybe for alderman. Maybe in the next election, we’ll have a senator."
Voters have never before elected an out transgender person to a state legislature or to the U.S. Congress, according to the Gay & Lesbian Victory Fund, which works to support out LGBT candidates and political appointees.
The group's vice president, Denis Dison, told BuzzFeed that a few transgender people have been elected to public office at the municipal level, but that Laughton is a trailblazer.
"We're thrilled for Stacie. This is a milestone for LGBT Americans, and an especially important achievement for the transgender community," he said on Thursday. "We're working to make sure qualified trans candidates have the training and resources they need to run and win, and we're seeing more and more take advantage of our Candidate Training program."
Read more: http://www.buzzfeed.com/chrisgeidner/new-hampshire-elects-nations-first-trans-lawmaker
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