Danica Roem becomes Virginia's first transgender elected official

Danica Roem, a transgender woman, was elected to the Virginia House of Delegates Tuesday. She defeated incumbent Robert Marshall who, in 2006, referred to himself as the state's "chief homophobe" and, earlier this year, introduced a "bathroom bill" pertaining to transgender individuals, per the Washington Post.

Roem will be one of the very few transgender elected officials in the nation. The first openly transgender person to hold office was Althea Garrison, elected as a Republican to the Massachusetts House of Representatives in 1992.