A transgender woman who won election to a seat on the Nashville city council is the first openly transgender person to be elected into political office in Tennessee. Nashville, a politically liberal city in a predominately conservative state, has four open at-large seats on the metro council, and Olivia Hill, 57, won one of them.
The LGBTQ+ Victory Fund, an organization that advocates for the election of LGBTQ+ people to public office, noted that her victory made her the first transgender woman to be elected in Tennessee.
Olivia Hill is a veteran who spent 10 years in the US Navy’s engineering division
According to NBC News, Hill was elected on Thursday with 12.9% of the vote.
According to her campaign website, she was raised in Nashville and is a veteran who spent 10 years in the US Navy’s engineering division. She has worked as an engineer for 36 years in total.
The Tennessean stated that Hill, who had worked at the Vanderbilt University power plant, retired in December 2021. After suffering severe workplace discrimination, she filed a lawsuit against the institution in September 2021. The two sides eventually settled out of court.
Hill has been on the board of directors for the Tennessee Pride Chamber and is a well-known public speaker and advocate for women’s and LGBTQ+ rights.
“My expertise is fixing things, and while my focus is repairing Nashville’s outdated infrastructure, I also want to ensure that our city is represented with true diversity in a state where the ruling party thinks I should head to the closet,” Hill said in a media release on Thursday following her win, according to the Associated Press.
According to the AP, women now make up the majority of the Nashville metro council.
Hill’s triumph was praised by Annise Parker, president and CEO of the LGBTQ+ Victory Fund. Parker pointed out that Hill’s historic victory coincides with the passage of anti-transgender legislation by Tennessee’s state legislature.