She Could Be The 1st Transgender State Legislator

One legislative hopeful in the West could make history this fall. Lauren Scott may become Nevada's first transgender state legislator if she's elected to lead the state assembly's 30th district. Scott, the founder of LGBT rights organization Equality Nevada, would also be the nation's first openly transgender state legislator, The Huffington Post reports. She won the state's Republican primary on June 10, beating out challenger Adam Khan with 58.3 percent of the vote. (And yes, we said Republican.)

In a news release, Scott said she was running to fight against "political cronyism" in the state capital, Carson City.

I will bring leadership and integrity to the Nevada Assembly. I will put the people of Nevada, not good ol’ boy politics, first.

Scott, who grew up in a military family, was an active-duty member of the Air Force for about seven years and served during Operation Desert Storm. Later — NBD — she founded her own company that made and sold instruments to the semiconductor process industry, according to her website, which she later sold. Now, Scott lives at home near Reno with four rescue cats and works as a consultant.

She says on her website that she changed her party affiliation from Democrat to nonpartisan in 2009, later registering as a Republican. Here's why, she writes:

Non-partisan candidates rarely win election and I could not, in all good conscience, run for office as a Democrat. Although we share many of the same ideals when it comes to social issues and human rights, I tend to disagree with the Democrats on issues of taxation and business development. I registered as a Republican for the first time in 2011. I will work with both parties to identify and reduce wasteful government spending and pursue initiatives to give small business owners the tools they need to get Nevada working again.

The Huffington Post reports that it could be tough for Scott to beat out her incumbent Democratic challenger in the November elections, Michael Sprinkle. But it looks like a national LGBT organization may be throwing its weight behind Scott, too. In a Tweet, since deleted but cited by the Huffington Post, Scott said the Gay and Lesbian Victory Fund had contacted her.

She's already faced attacks for being transgender, including an offensive post by The Political Carnival which called her a woman in quotation marks and questioned her choice of party. But it looks like Scott's not shy about calling out her detractors:

Another transgender candidate is vying to make history books by joining the legislature this year: Dana Beyer, who's running in a Democratic primary for a Maryland Senate seat this month.