In a historic landmark victory, a lesbian has been elected the governor of a state in the United States of America.
Kate Brown
For the first time, a U.S. state has elected an openly LGBT governor.
The landmark was reached in Oregon, where the Associated Press
projects that Kate Brown has won the gubernatorial election. Brown was
the incumbent in her race — but running for election for the first time.
She stepped in as governor of Oregon in February 2012, after former
Gov. John Kitzhaber resigned over an influence-peddling scandal. She
was secretary of state at the time; as Oregon does not have a lieutenant
governor, she was first in the line of succession.
"Now, she'll serve the remaining two years of the four-year term Kitzhaber won during the 2014 election," Oregon Public Broadcasting reports.
Earlier this year, during a graduation speech at Willamette
University, Brown told the graduate about the years she spent in the
closet, The Associated Press reports. She told the students she worried
that she could lose her job if it was discovered she was bisexual.
Brown was outed in the '80s, and has been married to her husband
since 1997. Slate reported last year that while it was not her choice to
be out, she embraced her identity once it was public.
Brown was not the first LGBT person to serve as a governor — former
New Jersey Gov. Jim McGreevey came out as gay in 2004 and resigned
months later. But she has now become the first openly LGBT person to win
a gubernatorial election.
She spoke to the Washington Blade last month about what her victory would mean.
"You can't be what you can't see," she said. "If I can
be a role model for one young person that decides that their life is
worth living because there's someone like them in the world, it's worth
it."
OPB has more on Brown's tenure so far:
"The state's political scene was roiling from Kitzhaber's
abrupt departure amid a cloud of scandal. Brown pushed forward with a
legislative agenda that included creating an automatic voter
registration system, expanding the state's clean fuels mandate, and
implementing a broad transportation funding package. While the first two
items passed with mainly Democratic support, the transportation package
failed to even come to a vote.
"As an unelected governor, Brown also was faced with guiding
the state through a series of unusual and traumatic events, including a
mass shooting at Umpqua Community College that left nine victims dead, a
41-day occupation by an armed group at the Malheur National Wildlife
Refuge, a searing drought that affected nearly the entire state, and a
derailment of an oil train in the Columbia Gorge."
Source: npr.org
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