Danica Roem: Who is Virginia's first transgender lawmaker?

Ms Roem is a former newspaper reporter who sings in a heavy metal band in her spare time

Danica Roem (PAUL J. RICHARDS/AFP/Getty Images) (AFP/Getty)

Danica Roem has made Virginia history by being the first openly transgender person to be elected to the House of Delegates – ousting one of the commonwealth’s longest serving and most socially conservative lawmakers.

Once Ms Roem is sworn in January, she will also be the first openly transgender person elected and seated in a state legislature in the US, according to the Victory Fund, a political action committee that works to get openly LGBTQ people elected, and has supported Ms Roem.

“To every person who’s ever been singled out, who’s ever been stigmatised, who’s ever been the misfit, who’s ever been the kid in the corner, who’s ever needed someone to stand up for them when they didn’t have a voice of their own,” Ms Roem said. “This one is for you.”

The former newspaper reporter unseated Republican delegate Bob Marshall, who had sponsored a bill that would have restricted which toilets she could use. Mr Marshall had proposed legislation for a ‘bathroom bill’ similar to what passed with great controversy in North Carolina last year. His bill would have required people to use the restroom that corresponds with the gender on their original birth certificates.

He later toned down the language on the bill, to remove the word “original” – but blasted the Republican committee that stuck the revised bill down as “disgusting”. Back in 2006 he had also labelled himself Virginia’s “chief homophobe” when defending his views on gay marriage.

Althea Garrison, elected in Massachusetts, was the first openly transgender person to serve in a state legislature, but did not campaign as an openly transgender person during her race in 1992.

The race between Ms Roem and Mr Marshall drew international attention and big money to the district in northern Virginia, located not too far from the Democratic bulwark of Washington, DC.

Democratic House Caucus Chair Charniele Herring called Ms Roem’s victory “historic”.

“It sends a message to politicians everywhere that the politics of bigotry is over.”

Aisha C Moodie-Mills, president and chief executive of Victory Fund, said that 2017 “will be remembered as the year of the trans candidate – and Danica’s heroic run for office the centrepiece of that national movement”.

Ms Roem’s supporters celebrated after the result came in having raised nearly $500,000 in donations, much of it coming from LGBT advocates and supporters from across the US.

But conservative groups denounced her win. “This is what happens when the radical transgender lobby pours more than $600,000 into a small state race and conservative donors largely sit the race out — Democrats cruise to victory and claim a mandate on an issue they were too afraid to outwardly campaign on,” said Terry Schilling, executive director at the Washington-based American Principles Project, which supported Mr Marshall.

Ms Roem was not the only openly transgender candidate elected on Tuesday. Tyler Titus won a seat on a western Pennsylvania school board, according to the Erie Times-News.

While Ms Roem openly discussed her gender identity during the campaign, the topic was not her main focus. Instead, she campaigned on issues regarding jobs, schools and – with particular fervour – northern Virginia’s traffic congestion.

“Discrimination is a disqualifier,” Ms Roem said after her victory. “You can serve if you have good public policy ideas, you’re well qualified and you have a commitment to do the work of the people you’re running to represent.” She also promised that she would definitely fix the traffic congestion issue.

She has thanked her grass-roots supporters, saying they made it possible for her to run without relying on campaign contributions from corporations.

Ms Roem said she refused to accept money from Dominion Energy, which she argues has too much influence over politicians.

“We have got to change the culture in Richmond,” she said in a TV interview.

The 33-year-old spoke publicly about being transgender in 2013, after having begun her gender transition when she was 28.

She emphasised on the campaign trail that politics should be inclusive of people from all backgrounds.

Ms Roem, who sings in a heavy metal band in her spare time, said she learned to listen to different perspectives and digest complicated policy as a reporter for the Gainesville Times and Prince William Times – skills she could utilise as a commonwealth delegate, she said.

She won awards from the Virginia Press Association seven times.

“No matter what you look like, where you come from, how you worship or who you love, if you have good public policy ideas, if you’re qualified for office, you have every right to bring your ideas to the table,” she said.

Ms Roem also argued that Mr Marshall, who has served in Virginia’s House of Delegates since 1992, spent too much time on social policy.

During his 13 terms, Mr Marshall became a lightning rod for controversy.

In addition to this year’s so-called bathroom bill, he was also the author of a now-void constitutional amendment that defined marriage as between one man and one woman, and sponsored a bill banning gay people from openly serving in the Virginia National Guard.

On the campaign trail, Mr Marshall and other Republicans repeatedly misidentified Ms Roem’s gender.

In a statement posted on his Facebook page, Mr Marshall said: “For 26 years I’ve been proud to fight for you, and fight for our future. Though we all wish tonight would have turned out differently, I am deeply grateful for your support and effort over the years.”