Danica Roem, First Trans State Representative, Dedicates Historic Victory to All the “Misfits”

“To every person who’s ever been singled out, who’s ever been stigmatized…This one’s for you.”

Last night, Danica Roem made history by becoming the first transgender candidate to be elected to a US state legislature, defeating Republican Bob Marshall, who had held the statehouse seat for 26 years and has a record of pushing some of the most anti-LGBT pieces of legislation in the country. 

In a rousing victory speech Tuesday evening, Roem dedicated her victory to the stigmatized and the voiceless.

“No matter what you look like, where you come from, how you worship, who you love, how you identify—and yeah, how you rock—that if you have good public policy ideas and you’re well qualified for office, bring those ideas to the table because this is your America too,” she told a room full of supporters.

For more on the newest member of Virginia’s House of Delegates, head to our recent interview with Roem here.

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WE'LL BE BLUNT

It is astonishingly hard keeping a newsroom afloat these days, and we need to raise $253,000 in online donations quickly, by October 7.

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Readers also told us to just give it to you straight when we need to ask for your support, and seeing how matter-of-factly explaining our inner workings, our challenges and finances, can bring more of you in has been a real silver lining. So our online membership lead, Brian, lays it all out for you in his personal, insider account (that literally puts his skin in the game!) of how urgent things are right now.

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