LEXIE CANNES STATE OF TRANS – UPDATE – 8 trans people have won in this election at this point. 10:30 PM PST 11-9-17. They are:

Danica Roem, Lisa Middleton, Tyler Titus, Stephe Koontz, Gerri Cannon, Andrea Jenkins, Phillipe Cunningham and Raven Matherne.

(Original article) There’s a limit to Trumpism. The voters made that point in this historic off-year election for the Democrats. They underlined their resolve by electing a trans woman to the Virginia legislature — tossing the transphobic Republican, Robert G. Marshall, out of office.

The newest member of the Virginia legislature, Danica Roem, following her victory, said:

“Discrimination is a disqualifier. This is about the people of the 13th District disregarding fear tactics, disregarding phobias . . . where we celebrate you because of who you are, not despite it.”

Roem’s opponent previously introduced a “bathroom bill” in the legislature, and attempted to use Roem’s status as a trans person during the campaign to stirrup trans hate — this included his refusing to address Roem by her prefered pronoun. The voters in Virginia were not having any of the hate nonsense and handed the seat to Roem by a comfortable margin.

As a bonus for trans people, the voters in Maine approved a ballot measure to expansion Obamacare, rebutting a noted transphobic politican, Republican Gov. Paul LePage, who vetoed the expasnsion five times.

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UPDATE – (t/h Kara Tucker): On the Last Word With O’Donnell asked Roem about, basically, how Marshall had made things about bathrooms and such while she stuck to local issues like traffic congestion and infrastructure:

Roem: “Well, let me put it this way to you. Starting next year, Delegate Marshall will be one of my constituents and I’m not going to attack one of my constituents. I think if there’s any lesson that comes out of the race this year, it’s that attacking your constituents, singling them out, stigmatizing people and trashing people to make them feel about themselves, that’s not our Virginia. That’s not our Prince William County. That’s not Manassas. Our Virginia is a commonwealth where we celebrate each other because of who we are, not despite it.”

UPDATE-2: A trans woman has also won a seat on the Palms Spring CA city council. From The Desert Sun: “Lisa Middleton made history in Palm Springs on Tuesday night by becoming the first transgender person elected to a non-judicial office in California, joining Christy Holstege, an attorney, in victory to the City Council.”

UPDATE-3: Trans woman of color wins seat on Minneapolis city council. From The Hill: “Minneapolis City Council candidate Andrea Jenkins won her race Tuesday night, becoming the first openly transgender woman of color elected to public office in the United States.”

UPDATE-4: From Pennlive.com: “Tyler Titus, a candidate for Erie School Board, on Tuesday became the first openly transgender person elected to office in Pennsylvania. “

UPDATE-5 From The Daily Beast (h/t Geena M Phillips): “a transgender woman in Georgia named Stephe Koontz narrowly won her race to serve on the city council in Doraville, and Gerri Cannon won a New Hampshire school board race. The icing on the cake: Early Wednesday evening, Andrea Jenkins was joined by out black transgender man Phillipe Cunningham, who also won a spot on the Minneapolis City Council.”

UPDATE-6 From the Human Rights Campaign: “Raven Matherne, Connecticut (Stamford Board of Representatives) Matherne joins her local Board of Representatives as the state’s first openly transgender lawmaker. Matherne will also be the youngest member in the board’s history.”

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Two takeaways from this election: 1) while we don’t know for sure, attacking trans people as a campaign tactic has so far resulted in two very visible self-inflicted black eyes (we’re talking about you, Pat McCrory, ex gov. of NC) that may have others in the future avoid going this route. 2) Trump. With the GOP faring poorly, maybe Congressional Republican will finally reign in the dotard so we’ll still have a nation to leave to our kids.

Roem: https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/virginia-politics/danica-roem-will-be-vas-first-openly-transgender-elected-official-after-unseating-conservative-robert-g-marshall-in-house-race/2017/11/07/d534bdde-c0af-11e7-959c-fe2b598d8c00_story.html?utm_term=.fbc15c6ab1d8

Middleton: http://www.desertsun.com/story/news/politics/2017/11/07/palm-springs-election-transgender-candidate-pace-make-history/838467001/

Titus: http://www.pennlive.com/news/2017/11/tyler_titus_wins_seat_to_becom.html

Andrea Jenkins: http://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/359304-andrea-jenkins-becomes-first-transgender-woman-of-color-elected-to-public

Cannon, Cunningham, Koontz: https://www.thedailybeast.com/how-lgbt-candidates-won-so-big-on-election-night

Matherne: http://www.hrc.org/blog/meet-the-transgender-americans-who-won-on-election-day

Democrats: http://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/359310-dems-win-from-coast-to-coast

Maine: https://www.politico.com/story/2017/11/07/maine-voters-medicaid-obamacare-244675

Metal Injection interview with Roem: http://www.metalinjection.net/politics/transgender-metal-vocalist-danica-roem-running-for-virginia-house-of-delegates

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Categories: Legislative, Transgender, Transsexual, Trans, Transphobia, exploitation, dehumanizing, violence, hate

Tags: Andrea Jenkins, Danica Roem, Gerri Cannon, Lisa Middleton, palms springs, pat mcCrory, Paul LePage, Phillipe Cunningham, Robert G. Marshall, Stephe Koontz, transphobia, tyler titus