Kentucky Elects Keturah Herron, 1st Out LGBTQ Person To Serve In State House

February 22, 2022• byMichael Strangeways

Progress IS being made.

Keturah Herron became the FIRST out LGBTQ person in the Kentucky State House when they won the Kentucky special election for their House District 42 seat on Tuesday, February 22nd. Herron is one of only 25 out black LGBTQ state legislators in the United States.

This is a great victory since Kentucky is pretty solidly Republican and conservative and the home of the very devisive national senators, Rand Paul and Senate Leader, Mitch McConnell.

More from LGBTQ Victory Fund.

Keturah Herron Shatters Lavender Ceiling; Becomes Kentucky’s First Out LGBTQ State Representative in History
Washington, DC – Tonight Keturah Herron won the Kentucky Special Election for House District 42. With this victory, Herron is now the first out LGBTQ person ever elected to the Kentucky State House. There are currently 13 out LGBTQ elected officials in Kentucky. Herron will be the only out LGBTQ person serving in the state legislature and one of just 25 out LGBTQ Black state legislators anywhere in the United States. In the final days before today’s election, Victory Fund and C-FAIR provided on-the-ground campaign support and assisted in get out the vote efforts.
Herron previously worked for the ACLU of Kentucky, where they worked to pass Breonna’s Law, which bans no-knock warrants in the city of Louisville. Now, she intends to leverage this experience and champion a variety of policies, including advancing voting rights, increasing the minimum wage, enacting criminal justice reform and improving access to education.

Mayor Annise Parker, President & CEO of LGBTQ Victory Fund, issued the following statement about their win:

“This is a momentous night for Kentucky, especially for LGBTQ people and Black people who have lived without equitable representation in the state legislature for far too long. Keturah is a seasoned community organizer and policy expert. She has the experience – and political stamina – to advocate for all Kentuckians and stand up against the deluge of anti-LGBTQ legislation perpetrated by anti-equality lawmakers. Her election is a strong rebuke to this hate.”

Chris Hartman, Executive Director of the Kentucky LGBTQ group C-FAIR, released the following statement:

“We couldn’t be more excited about tonight’s historic election of Kentucky’s first openly-LGBTQ state representative, Keturah Herron. Representative-Elect Herron will fill a nearly 15-year gap in LGBTQ representation in the Kentucky General Assembly, and we need her now more than ever before. With the Kentucky House poised to vote on an anti-trans sports bill in the next several days, Representative-Elect Herron will fight fiercely for transgender kids and all LGBTQ Kentuckians in this critical time.”

While Herron is now the first out LGBTQ member of the Kentucky state House, in 2003, Ernesto Scorsone made history as the first out LGBTQ member of the Kentucky state Senate when he came out in a public speech.

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LGBTQ Victory Fund

LGBTQ Victory Fund works to achieve and sustain equality by increasing the number of openly LGBTQ elected officials at all levels of government while ensuring they reflect the diversity of those they serve. Since 1991, Victory Fund has helped thousands of openly LGBTQ candidates win local, state and federal elections. victoryfund.org

C-FAIR

C-FAIR, the Committee for Fairness And Individual Rights, is the Political Action Committee of the Fairness Campaign. FairnessVotes.com

About the Author: Michael Strangeways

As the Editorial Director/Co-Owner, Michael Strangeways writes, edits and does about a million other jobs for Seattle Gay Scene, Puget Sound's most visited LGBTQ news, arts and entertainment website now celebrating its 14th year as a media outlet. A semi-proud Midwesterner by birth, he's lived in Seattle since 2000. He's also a film producer who would like you to check out the Jinkx Monsoon documentary, "Drag Becomes Him" now available on Amazon.com. In his spare time, he gets slightly obsessive about his love for old movies, challenging theater, "otters", vodka, chocolate, "I,Claudius", Lizzie Borden, real books made out of paper, disaster films, show tunes, Weimar era Germany, flea markets, pop surrealistic art, the sex lives of Hollywood actors both living and dead, kitties, chicken fried steak, haute couture and David Bowie. But, not necessarily in that order.