With Tuesday's election of a
transgender woman and a millennial woman who identifies as bisexual,
Palm Springs will install an all-LGBT City Council in December.
Lisa Middleton made history by becoming
the first transgender person elected to a non-judicial office in
California. Christy Holstege, an attorney who identifies as
bisexual, also won on Tuesday. Each took about 30 percent of the
vote.
“It's all because of all of you that
we are here tonight, celebrating a victory, a historic victory for
our city and for our state,” Middleton told supporters on Tuesday
inside Eight4Nine Restaurant & Lounge, The Desert Sun
reported.
The 5-member City Council also includes
three gay men, and Mayor Robert Moon, elected in 2015 to a 4-year
term, is also openly gay.
“The city's LGBT contingent is now
the dominant political force – and completely in charge,” The
Desert Sun wrote.
Current City Council member Geoff Kors
said that sexual orientation and gender identity is not an issue to
Palm Springs voters.
“The city has changed a great deal in
the last decade,” Kors said. “But regardless of party it's very
accepting of LGBT people and that's evident in the fact that the
candidates who won, their sexual orientation and gender identity was
never really an issue.”
Transgender Democratic candidates in
Virginia and Minnesota also won on Tuesday. In Minnesota, two
transgender candidates won their races, while Danica
Roem won a seat to the Virginia statehouse.