National Domestic Violence Awareness Project

profeminist:

“Danica Roem has made history again.

The first out transgender person to serve in a state legislature, having been elected to the Virginia House of Delegates in 2017, Democrat Roem Tuesday became the first one to win reelection to a state lawmaking body. In addition to her victory, four other LGBTQ candidates, all Democrats, were reelected to the Virginia legislature — three in the House of Delegates, one in the Senate — helping to flip both chambers to Democratic control. This gives the party a trifecta in Virginia state government, as the state already has a Democratic governor, who did not have to run for reelection this year, and makes it likely that Virginia will finally enact an LGBTQ-inclusive nondiscrimination law.

Roem captured 57 percent of the vote to beat anti-LGBTQ Republican opponent Kelly McGinn in northern Virginia’s 13th House District, The New York Times reports. In 2017, Roem had unseated one of the chamber’s most homophobic and transphobic members, Bob Marshall.

“In 2017, Danica wrote the playbook on how transgender candidates can defeat anti-LGBTQ opponents through authenticity and attention to everyday issues — and her reelection victory sets it in stone,” said Annise Parker, president and CEO of the LGBTQ Victory Fund, in a press release. Victory Fund had invested heavily in Roem’s campaign. “Voters did not head to the polls to make history, yet they proved trans candidates can win battleground races in battleground states despite transphobic attacks from opponents. Danica inspired trans people across the nation to run for office. Her reelection proves that political revolution is a lasting transformation — not an aberration.”

Read the full piece here