Danica Roem

thumb|I am absolutely prepared to fight against any form of hate speech, against any form of anti-LGBTQ bigotry — no matter who it comes from —that is designed to denigrate the people I have been elected to serve. Outside groups who have been virulently opposed to LGBTQ equality hate seeing a transgender legislator who is actually successful in delivering on constituent service. Danica Anthony Roem (born September 30, 1984) is an American journalist and politician who has served in the Virginia Senate since 2024. A Democrat, she represents the 30th district covering part of Prince William County including the cities of Manassas and Manassas Park. She previously served in the Virginia House of Delegates representing the 13th district from 2018-2024. Elected to the Virginia House of Delegates in 2017, Roem is the first openly transgender person elected to either house of the Virginia General Assembly, and upon her January 2018 swearing-in became the first openly transgender person to be elected and serve in a state legislature in U.S. history. In 2023, she was elected to the Virginia Senate, becoming the first openly transgender person to be elected to a state senate in the Southern United States. Upon her January 2024 swearing-in, she became the first openly transgender person to be elected and serve in both chambers of a state legislature in U.S. history. Quotes thumb|And so go figure, that was like the day of my adult life where I was being real. April Fools’ Day was the day I was being like, nope. This is actually who I am. And I’ve let it roll ever since. thumb|If you’re not involved, if you are not your best advocate, you’re asking someone else to fill that void. Some of the people who will try to step up to fill that void are going to be political charlatans who have no interest in preserving your best interest. You can’t count on other people to be your best advocate. You have to step up. Let me put this as bluntly as possible. I am absolutely prepared to fight against any form of hate speech, against any form of anti-LGBTQ bigotry — no matter who it comes from —that is designed to denigrate the people I have been elected to serve. [...] Outside groups who have been virulently opposed to LGBTQ equality hate seeing a transgender legislator who is actually successful in delivering on constituent service. As quoted by Tim Teeman, "Danica Roem, Trans History Maker, Fights Another Anti-LGBT Candidate—and Their Donors—in Virginia", Daily Beast, 10 August 2019 2021 CNN interview When you are an LGBTQ person, you have to care. Statement regarding LGBTQ Americans and engaging (or not) in US politics. As quoted by Dana Bash & Abbie Sharpe, "Danica Roem’s message to LGBTQ youth: ‘You have to care’ about politics", CNN, 20 June 2021 What we learned from the marriage equality fights, [is that] if you know a gay person in your life and you see just that person, just being a person, that you (are) far less likely to want to restrict their civil rights. Statement to CNN during an interview. As quoted by Dana Bash & Abbie Sharpe, "Danica Roem’s message to LGBTQ youth: ‘You have to care’ about politics", CNN, 20 June 2021 If you know a trans person, you’re much more likely to support our civil rights. But because there are fewer of us, it makes it a harder conversation. Statement to CNN during an interview. As quoted by Dana Bash & Abbie Sharpe, "Danica Roem’s message to LGBTQ youth: ‘You have to care’ about politics", CNN, 20 June 2021 We’re simply saying that a person’s mere presence and existence as an LGBTQ person does not constitute a heat of passion defense that negates malice in an attack. In layman’s terms, you can’t just assault and kill someone just because you feel like it. Regarding her role in banning the "gay panic defense" in Virginia. As quoted by Dana Bash & Abbie Sharpe, "Danica Roem’s message to LGBTQ youth: ‘You have to care’ about politics", CNN, 20 June 2021 I was at a point at age 28 where I did not want to go into my thirties living a lie. I had pretended to be someone else my entire life by this point. I had known who I was since I was 10 years old. Regarding coming out as transgender in April 2012. As quoted by Dana Bash & Abbie Sharpe, "Danica Roem’s message to LGBTQ youth: ‘You have to care’ about politics", CNN, 20 June 2021 I figured, okay, if it goes badly, ‘April Fools!’ If it goes well, I’ll let it ride,” she explained. “I thought it was the safest day of the year for me to do it because if I just did on like April 2, it would just be like, ‘Um, I have questions. What are you trying to tell us?’ And so go figure, that was like the day of my adult life where I was being real. April Fools’ Day was the day I was being like, nope. This is actually who I am. And I’ve let it roll ever since. Regarding coming out as transgender in April 2012. As quoted by Dana Bash & Abbie Sharpe, "Danica Roem’s message to LGBTQ youth: ‘You have to care’ about politics", CNN, 20 June 2021 Trans representation was whoever was being ridiculed on Jerry Springer. Or ‘When we come back on Maury, we’re going to have a shocking announcement about this person’s really dating a man,’ or, you know, like some stupid crap like that. Now I know at least five or six people who I went to school with who are out, including same-sex couples who are married now. And it’s just the oddly comforting thing about that is like, ‘Oh, it wasn’t just me who was suffocating.' Regarding life as a closeted transgender teenager in the early/mid 2000s, and life after coming out as a transgender female in April 2012. As quoted by Dana Bash & Abbie Sharpe, "Danica Roem’s message to LGBTQ youth: ‘You have to care’ about politics", CNN, 20 June 2021 If you’re not involved, if you are not your best advocate, you’re asking someone else to fill that void. Some of the people who will try to step up to fill that void are going to be political charlatans who have no interest in preserving your best interest. You can’t count on other people to be your best advocate. You have to step up. Statement to CNN during an interview. As quoted by Dana Bash & Abbie Sharpe, "Danica Roem’s message to LGBTQ youth: ‘You have to care’ about politics", CNN, 20 June 2021 Quotes about Roem It was a moment captured for the history books. Danica Roem, on her knees with her face in her hands, crying. It was 2017 and she had just become the first state lawmaker who identifies as transgender elected in Virginia. She will always be the first, but four years later, she is no longer the only person in the US who identifies as transgender to be elected and serve in a state legislative body. It’s not a well populated trail, but one she is proud to have blazed. “They were willing to look at me and they go, ‘Yeah, we know she’s trans and she’ll do a great job,’” Roem said of her constituents in an interview with CNN earlier this month. “I never say ‘trans but,’ always ‘trans and.’ Because it’s like, no, I don’t hide who I am. People know exactly who I am here.” Dana Bash & Abbie Sharpe, "Danica Roem’s message to LGBTQ youth: ‘You have to care’ about politics", CNN, 20 June 2021 Before her run for office in 2017, Roem spent nine years as a journalist in her community, which she says was her chief qualification for elected office. “What person is going to be more qualified to represent their community than a lifelong resident of that community who spent their career actually covering the public policy issues of the community?’” She first got invested in politics in 2003, when then-President George W. Bush wanted to limit marriage to heterosexuals. She couldn’t ignore what was happening.“I would read the newspaper, I would read USA Today, New York Times,” she says. “I would read those every single day, and then I would go online and I would read about politics, two hours a day, seven days a week, every day for years.”Though she hadn’t yet come out, Roem said she sought to understand what legal mechanisms existed to protect people like her – and more importantly – how to fight for them. Dana Bash & Abbie Sharpe, "Danica Roem’s message to LGBTQ youth: ‘You have to care’ about politics", CNN, 20 June 2021 Across the country today, many states permit a legal strategy known as the gay and trans “panic” defense, which can allow people who are charged with violent crimes against LGBTQ victims to argue that it was the victim’s gender identity or sexual orientation that drove them to violence. Earlier this year, at the behest of a teenage constituent who told her it was scary growing up knowing that someone could get away with harming them, Roem introduced a bill to ban the gay and trans panic defense for murder or manslaughter in Virginia. “I realized … that that person was living with the same fear in 2020 that I had as a closeted high school freshman in 1998.” It passed the legislature in February, making Virginia the first state in the South and 12th in the country to ban it as a defense of murder or manslaughter. Dana Bash & Abbie Sharpe, "Danica Roem’s message to LGBTQ youth: ‘You have to care’ about politics", CNN, 20 June 2021 As a teenager, Roem said she didn’t have LGBTQ role models of her own – she didn’t even know any. She saw trans people portrayed in the media, but only in a limited, disheartening, fashion. Dana Bash & Abbie Sharpe, "Danica Roem’s message to LGBTQ youth: ‘You have to care’ about politics", CNN, 20 June 2021 This year has already become the worst year for anti-LGBTQ legislation in recent history, according to the Human Rights Campaign. As of May, more than 250 anti-LGBTQ bills had been introduced at the state level, with 17 of them signed into law. “When you are an LGBTQ person in the United States, regardless of whether you care about politics, politics cares about you,” Roem said. Her plea is personal, and she hopes her activism will inspire the next generation into action as well. Dana Bash & Abbie Sharpe, "Danica Roem’s message to LGBTQ youth: ‘You have to care’ about politics", CNN, 20 June 2021 Danica Roem does not concur that she made history in 2017 by becoming the first ever out transgender state legislator, when she was elected to represent the 13th District in the Virginia House of Delegates. "12,077 people made history in 2017," Roem, a Democrat, told the Daily Beast. Tim Teeman, "Danica Roem, Trans History Maker, Fights Another Anti-LGBT Candidate—and Their Donors—in Virginia", Daily Beast, 10 August 2019 Born and raised in Manassas, Virginia, Roem graduated with a degree in journalism from St. Bonaventure University in New York state in 2006. Afterward, she served as an award-winning reporter for the Gainesville Times, the Prince William Times, The Hotline, and the Montgomery County Sentinel. She also co-founded and performed as a vocalist for the “drunken thrash metal” band Cab Ride Home, which played over 120 shows and toured in the United Kingdom.She began her physical transition in 2012 and publicly came out as trans in 2013, legally changing her name in 2015. In 2017, she ran a successful campaign to become a state delegate, defeating 13-term incumbent Del. Robert G. Marshal, a transphobic and long-time Republican incumbent who called himself Virginia’s “chief homophobe.” Her victory made her the first out transgender person in U.S. history to be elected to a state legislature.She won re-election in 2019 and 2021. In 2023, she ran a successful campaign to become a state senator. Her campaigns have primarily focused on repairing the State Route 28 highway, expanding health care coverage, ending school meal debt shaming, and increasing government accountability. Daniel Villareal, "Danica Roem: A Trailblazer for LGBTQ+ Rights", LGBTQ Nation, 10 November 2023 Roem has said that her Republican opponents’ queerphobic tactics against her often backfire because her diverse constituents don’t support such bigotry. Her legislative record demonstrates her willingness to support equality for all people, regardless of their sexual orientation or gender identity. Daniel Villareal, "Danica Roem: A Trailblazer for LGBTQ+ Rights", LGBTQ Nation, 10 November 2023 External links Category:1984 births Category:Living people Category:People from Virginia Category:Women journalists from the United States Category:Women politicians in the United States Category:Democratic Party (United States) politicians Category:Transgender and transsexual women