Hillary Clinton praises transgender lawmaker Danica Roem on International Women’s Day
TOPSHOT – Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton applauds during the CNN Town Hall at Drake University in Des Moines , Iowa, January 25, 2016, ahead of the Iowa Caucus. AFP PHOTO / JIM WATSON / AFP / JIM WATSON (Photo credit should read JIM WATSON/AFP/Getty Images)
Hillary Clinton has paid tribute to a transgender trailblazer for International Women’s Day 2018.
The former presidential candidate – the first woman to be nominated by a major party – listed a string of inspiring women for the annual celebration.
Clinton wrote on Twitter: “In honour of #InternationalWomensDay, I want to celebrate some of the women and girls who inspire me every day.
Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Rodham Clinton (Getty)
“These women resist inequality, insist on a better world, persist against all odds, and enlist others in our shared fights.”
Among Clinton’s heroes was Danica Roem, who was elected as the first out trans state representative in the US last November.
She wrote that Roem “put a huge crack in the glass ceiling last November, then got right to work to serve her constituents.”
The post has since been retweeted almost two thousand times and favourited more than 11,000 times.
In the 2016 US presidential election Clinton won three million more votes than Donald Trump, making her the most voted for woman in American political history.
However, she lost out on the top job under electoral college rules.
Roem, who is in the Virginia House of Representatives, wrote in response: “Thank you, Madam Secretary @HillaryClinton, for reminding us that we are always, truly #StrongerTogether.”
Back in November, she became the first out trans person to be elected as a state representative.
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Not only that but she did so, beating an adamant transphobe, Bob Marshall, for the seat.
He also previously co-authored the state’s now-defunct constitutional ban on same-sex marriage.
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At the time she said she had “campaigned on a platform of building up our infrastructure and not tearing down each other.”
Roem’s swearing-in was celebrated by LGBT activists and organisations.
“Delegate Danica Roem’s victory was a game changer, sending a clear warning to anti-equality lawmakers across the country that the days of attacking LGBTQ people to scare up votes are over,” said the Human rights Campaign’s Senior Vice President for Policy and Political Affairs JoDee Winterhof at the time.
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“HRC was proud to endorse her candidacy and to mobilize around her campaign. Today, as she is sworn in to the Virginia House of Delegates, Danica Roem is giving hope to LGBTQ people — especially transgender young people– all across this country. We congratulate Delegate Roem on this historic achievement and look forward to working with her to advance equality for all Virginians.”
