‘Just another lady on the House floor’: New Hampshire elects nation's first transgender lawmaker

Stacie Laughton is first transgender person elected to state legislature



Gender issues are important, but she also wants to represent all people



She is liberal on most issues, but conservative on finances



New Hampshire made history by becoming the first state with an all-female Congressional delegation

Voters in New Hampshire have become the first to elect a transgender person to their state legislature.

Stacie Laughton, 28, won a seat in the New Hampshire House of Representatives in Tuesday’s election. She is a trans woman, that is someone with a female gender identity who was assigned as male at birth.

Laughton said she hopes her victory will inspire others from the LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender) community to get more involved in mainstream politics.

Stacie Laughton, 28, has become the first transgender person to be elected to the state legislature

Laughton's victory has been hailed as a ‘milestone’ by the Gay & Lesbian Victory Fund

'My hope is that now maybe we’ll see more people in the community running, maybe for alderman. Maybe in the next election, we’ll have a senator,' she told The (Nashua) Telegraph .

Gender issues are a key concern for Laughton, but she also wants to be seen as just another lady on the House floor and someone who represents all people, regardless of their gender identification.

'This area of New Hampshire needed somebody like me,' she said, 'somebody who understands the complex issues that this district faces, somebody who understands what it's like to live with a lower income, somebody who knows the people in the area.'

Laughton, who has been politically active since she was a teenager, she takes a liberal position on most issues, but on finances she considers herself a conservative.

Key issues for Laughton are advocating for the homeless, those in low-income housing, and those with mental illnesses and physical disabilities. She has also said she would like to strengthen the public school system.

The victory was hailed as a ‘milestone’ by the Gay & Lesbian Victory Fund, which works to support out LGBT candidates and political appointees.

Laughton takes a liberal position on most issues, but on finances considers herself a conservative

Laughton promises to represent all people, regardless of their gender identification

'This is a milestone for LGBT Americans, and an especially important achievement for the transgender community,' Denis Dison, the group's vice president, told BuzzFeed .

'We're working to make sure qualified trans candidates have the training and resources they need to run and win, and we're seeing more and more take advantage of our Candidate Training program.'

Tuesday’s election saw a wave of historic results. New Hampshire made history by becoming the first state with an all-female Congressional delegation, with women taking the governor’s office and the other two congressional seats, besides the one Laughton won.

Winner: Tammy Baldwin celebrates her victory over Republican candidate Tommy Thompson in Wisconsin

Maine, Maryland and Washington voters made their states the first to pass legalized gay marriage by a popular vote.



Voters in Minnesota defeated a constitutional measure that would have banned gay marriage.

Democrat Tammy Baldwin also became the nation’s first openly gay U.S. senator by winning in Wisconsin.

In Iowa, voters decided to retain a State Supreme Court justice, David Wiggins, rejecting a campaign by the State Republican Party and other conservative forces to oust him because of his participation in the court’s unanimous ruling in 2009 allowing same-sex-marriage on equal protection grounds.

Democrat Tammy Baldwin was elected the nation's first openly gay U.S. senator on Tuesday evening







