Senator Buhl O’Donnell, 28, is in her second term in the South Dakota State Senate, serves as the minority caucus chair, and is the first openly LGBT person elected to any office in the state....
Champions of Change: Harvey Milk Champions Of Change
The White House honors ten openly LGBT elected or appointed officials for their commitment to equality and public service.
Representative Karen Clark was elected to the Minnesota House of Representatives in 1980, making her the longest serving openly gay or lesbian state legislator in the country. She represents...
Kim Coco Iwamoto, a certified therapeutic foster parent, was elected to Hawaii’s State Board of Education in 2006 and re-elected in 2010. During her time in office, Commissioner Iwamoto was able...
John Laird has a forty year public service career, including twenty-three years in elected office. In 1983, he was one of the first openly gay Mayors in the country. His election to the state...
Kim Painter serves as Johnson County Recorder in Iowa City, Iowa. In 1998, she became the first openly gay person to win election to public office in Iowa. In 2007, she was selected by peers to...
Mayor Michael A. Gin is currently serving on his second term as the 28th Mayor of the City of Redondo Beach, having been reelected in March 2009. As Mayor, he has seen the city through several...
An attorney by training, Senator Pat Steadman has worked for equal rights for LGBT Coloradans for over two decades. In 1992, he helped organize the lawsuit challenging Colorado's infamous "...
In 2012, Senator Ricardo Lara, a native of East Los Angeles, became the first openly gay person of color elected to the California State Senate. He is the first LGBT legislator to Chair the...
When he was elected in 2011, Chris Seelbach became the first openly gay person ever elected in the city of Cincinnati. Since taking office, Council Member Seelbach has led efforts to extend equal...
Simone Bell serves in Georgia House District 58 in Atlanta, Georgia. After more than 20 years of advocacy and activism around a host of issues she won a special election in 2009 and became the...