4 Transgender Candidates to Watch

Each has a unique message.
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So far this year, there have been 12 violent deaths of transgender people in the United States, and about 30 states still have no laws to protect transgender people when it comes to employment discrimination. And 16 states are debating bathroom bills that would segregate people to use restrooms consistent with their biological sex.

Although gender and sexual orientation should not matter in a political race, this year has proven that one thing does: representation.

The Victory Fund—an organization that supports LGBTQ candidates running for office across the country—is calling 2017 the “Year of the Trans Candidate.” According to president and CEO Aisha C. Moodie-Mills, “Trans equality is under attack in city councils, state legislatures, and the federal government – and what better way to respond than by electing trans people who can stand up to these hostile lawmakers and be the voice for our community.”

Teen Vogue spoke to four transgender candidates who are representing action, activism, and change by sharing their stories as they campaign for local and state offices.

Danica Roem — Virginia House of Delegates, District 13

Core principles: Traffic, schools, jobs, and equality.

Courtesy of Danica Roem

Danica Roem has spent thousands of dollars out of pocket on hormone replacement therapy and other transition-related medical expenses after being denied coverage. After an extensive application process, Roem says she received an email stating that transition-related health care would not be covered under her Virginia group plan.

“They’re basically saying that transition-related care is cosmetic, that it’s optional, that it doesn’t count — and that’s not OK,” she said. “LGBTQ health care is health care. It is not a want, it is a need.”

For about the past decade, Roem has worked in her personal and professional life to put a stop to discrimination in Virginia’s Prince William County. A Manassas native, Roem is an award-winning journalist and has covered every major and minor issue in her hometown, including current Virginia delegate Bob Marshall. Marshall is known for his opposition to abortion rights and has proposed bills to get rid of gender identity and sexual orientation protection in Virginia schools.

In the upcoming primary, Roem is looking to take the initial step toward winning Marshall’s seat. Roem is the first transgender candidate to run for Virginia’s General Assembly and if she wins the election it would make her the first state legislator in Virginia to win as an out transgender candidate.

She announced her candidacy on January 3, the same day that Marshall proposed a bathroom bill for the state of Virginia. “Delegate Marshall’s legislative priorities are more concerned with where I go to the bathroom than how you get to work,” she said.

“We have to lead in Virginia and we have to do it now,” she said. “When the attorney general pulled out the rug from under Gavin Grimm’s feet, that was a huge problem.”

Roem’s passion for her hometown translates far beyond LGBTQ rights. She hopes to have an impact on other issues in her community, starting with bringing high-paying jobs to Innovation Park and greater funding to the county’s education programs.

“When you have the ability to speak fluently about the quality-of-life issues that affect people who live here, suddenly your gender identity becomes less important,” she said.

The primary election for the Virginia House of Delegates will be held on June 13.

Her message to Teen Vogue readers is straightforward: “If there is something wrong in your community, state, or country, ask yourself: what are you doing to change it? Talk to people. Volunteer. Work for change.”

Phillipe Cunningham — Minneapolis City Council, Ward 4

Core Principles: Neighborhood safety, community wealth building, youth opportunities, 21st-century governing

Courtesy of Phillipe Cunningham

Phillipe Cunningham never anticipated a career in politics, let alone in Minnesota. Growing up in “the cornfields of Illinois,” Cunningham lost his college scholarship at 19 years old when his college's endowment was hit by the Great Recession and began teaching kids to support himself. Eventually making his way to Chicago to finish school and work as a special education teacher, Cunningham’s career plans were involuntarily cut short.

“I wanted to work with the most disenfranchised young folks who needed the most love and support and care because I have a lot to give,” he said. “But I was kind of outed. I was bullied, and humiliated, and intimidated. A black queer trans man who is feminine expressing, it just wasn’t a safe place for me.”

Cunningham turned to his Facebook friends for support and advice and one suggestion led him to move to Minneapolis, where he said that his past struggles were “erased.” He eventually worked his way into the mayor’s office, serving as the senior policy aide for education, youth success, racial equity, and LGBTQ rights.

In a district where Minnesota’s major Democratic party has backed the same candidate for nearly two decades, Cunningham already broke barriers by blocking the incumbent from securing an endorsement for office. If elected, Cunningham will be the first trans man elected to a major city council, and one of the first trans people of color to hold office in the United States.

“It’s still terrifying every time I tell someone that I am trans because I don’t know how they are going to respond,” he said. “But I need people to know that I spent the first 23 years of my life as a black woman and I need people to know that my world dramatically changed when I stepped out of my house and spent the past seven years as a black man.”

In a district with massive racial disparities in the wealth gap, Cunningham is committed to community building between two different neighborhoods in Minneapolis. He plans to bridge the gap by fighting for equality in home ownership, preventing lead poisoning concentrated in disenfranchised neighborhoods, and maintaining diversity throughout the ward.

“I was raised as a black kid in a racist rural town, but I just kept bulldozing. And I’ve been bulldozing,” he said. “I’m really excited because folks are ready for change, and that is the first step.”

The Minneapolis City Council general election is November 7.

His message to Teen Vogue readers: “Commit to learning. Never believe you have it all figured out because constant learning is absolutely required in order to be your best self.”

Andrea Jenkins — Minneapolis City Council, Ward 8

Core Principles: Community leadership, equity, and access.

Courtesy of Andrea Jenkins

“As an African-American trans woman, I really believe that representation matters.”

In December 2016, Elizabeth Glidden announced that she would not seek reelection for her seat on the Minneapolis City Council. Minutes following her announcement, she said, a page appeared on Facebook called “Run, Andrea, Run!” Four days and over 5,000 followers crashed the page until Andrea Jenkins accepted the call to run for office.

Jenkins is no stranger to Minneapolis’s Ward 8 or to the city council’s office; she served as Glidden’s policy aide for years before running for her seat. After more than a decade of helping her community with everything from school funding to getting squirrels out of attics, Jenkins's constituents supported her even when she didn’t consider the possibility of replacing her boss.

“At the end of the day, my campaign is about equity and access,” she said. “I want to make sure that the policies we make as a city council will be fair and equitable for everybody.”

Endorsed by the Minneapolis Democratic party, Jenkins’ election would make her the first trans woman elected to a major city council, and one of the first trans people of color to hold elected office in the United States.

Jenkins’s social activism and role as a community leader are also well-respected. As an oral historian at the University of Minnesota, she continues to interview transgender and gender non-conforming people all around the country about their experiences. In addition to holding a degree in creative writing, Jenkins is also an artist, a poet, and a community organizer.

“I plan to bring my entire self to the work that I do,” she said. “I’m not interested in just being the LGBT candidate or just being the transgender candidate or just being the black candidate. But I really want to make sure that all of those identities are front and center as I try to work to make creative and positive change in our communities."

According to Jenkins, her journey to office and as a prominent activist is largely driven by her own experiences, coming out as every letter in the LGBTQ acronym.

“If you don’t conform to every single expectation, you get outcasted, you get shunned, you get labeled a freak or a weirdo, and that’s just not fair and it’s not right,” she said. “When we center the most marginalized people in our community and make life better for them, it makes life better for everybody. That’s why I am running for city council.”

“Human beings come in every single variety — black, Asian, straight, lesbian, a-gender. But the bottom line is we are all human beings and we have to learn how to respect and honor people’s humanity beyond what their identities are.”

The Minneapolis City Council general election is November 7.

Her message to Teen Vogue readers is about self-love: “Love yourself, be yourself so that you can be loving and kind to other people.”

Mel Wymore — New York City Council, District 6

Core principles: inclusivity, diversity, sustainability, quality of life

Courtesy of Mel Wymore

When Mel Wymore moved to New York City’s Upper West Side almost 30 years ago, he was expecting his first child. Hoping to find a community in his new home, Wymore was carrying boxes when he watched a man jump out of the building across the street and fall to his death. Forty-five minutes later, an ambulance arrived and the scene was cleared.

“It was like nothing ever happened,” he said. “And I was just appalled by that.” Wymore gathered his new neighbors to cross the street and reach out to the tenants of a highly avoided building.

“They were living in deplorable conditions without any food or real health care, so we started a food program and a community council and brought in visiting nurses,” he recalls.

The food program lasted for 20 years and represented Wymore’s first step into community activism. After two terms as his community board’s chair, Wymore became the first transgender candidate to run for office in New York State in 2013.

Despite a powerful New York Times endorsement, he lost in a crowded race and did not expect to run again. But four years later, the political landscape drastically changed. Transgender representation grew and the state-by-state opposition created a climate that Wymore refused to ignore.

“On the state level, we’ve had Democrats rolling over and joining the Republican agenda. That made me angry,” he said. “I really believe that we need to stand up as activists, and the Upper West Side has a legacy of doing that.”

Wymore’s agenda for his community is based strongly on supporting marginalized people, particularly to create safer and more equal opportunities for the next generation. He continues to lead by example.

As a former PTA president for his child’s middle school, Wymore fought against school bullying by helping bring in an expert on gender and sexual orientation. It was during the children’s presentation that Wymore began to understand his own gender identity.

“I announced that I was going to be dealing with and I was going to embark on a transition, not knowing where I would land,” he said. “I wasn’t clear that I would go the full spectrum of changing my name, taking a male pronoun, but I wanted to have a public dialogue about gender.”

As a transgender person in a mostly straight community, Wymore said that he constantly invites and engages people in real conversation. He proudly discusses his identity as a male mother and makes himself available to everyone in his community who has questions about social conventions of gender and sexuality.

“Gender roles are so deeply ingrained in us, like the air we breathe,” he said. “When you elect a transgender person into office it becomes about what they’ve accomplished as a human being that voters care about.”

The New York City Council primary election is on September 12.

His message to Teen Vogue readers is about empowerment: “Take stock in your own power. Get involved. Be a leader.”

Related: Sue Myrick and Lynn Woolsey Have Advice For Young Women Who Want to Run for Office

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