Tennessee Elects State’s First Openly Transgender Politician

As Bonnie Ramone of Bonnie and the Mere Mortals reminded us in her recent interview with OFM, for all the bad news we hear from the state of Tennessee about LGBTQ+ rights, there’s still a thriving LGBTQ+ community in the state that shouldn’t be written off because of the conservative government. So it’s in that spirit that queer people get to celebrate that the state of Tennessee has now elected its first openly transgender politician!

According to The Guardian, Olivia Hill, a 57-year-old transgender Navy veteran and retired engineer, was elected to the city council of Nashville, a politically liberal city in the otherwise-red state. “Nashville voters clearly reject the hateful rhetoric that has grown louder in Tennessee politics lately,” says a statement from Annise Parker, former Mayor of Houston and current President and CEO of LGBTQ+ Victory Fund, an organization that works to elect LGBTQ+ people to public office.

“Olivia’s victory proves that transgender people belong everywhere decisions about them are being made, including local office. I know Olivia is well-prepared to take her seat on the Metro Council and work to make Nashville and Davidson County a more welcoming place for all.”

According to Hill’s campaign website, the newly elected city councilor was the Senior Supervisor of the Vanderbilt University power plant and has accumulated a whopping 36 years of experience in the engineering industry. The Guardian reports that she sued the University in 2021 after experiencing a great deal of workplace discrimination, leading to an out-of-court settlement.

“My expertise is fixing things, and while my focus is repairing Nashville’s outdated infrastructure, I also want to ensure that our city is represented with true diversity in a state where the ruling party thinks I should head to the closet,” Hill says in a news release following her win, according to the Associated Press. AP also reports that, with the outcome of this election, a majority of the Nashville city council will be women.

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