海角大神

On Tuesday, the mayor of a small Texas town became one of the state鈥檚 first openly transgender public officials.

Jess Herbst, formerly known as Jeff, has served in the local government of New Hope, a small town near McKinney, since 2003; she聽become mayor in May of 2016 when her predecessor passed away, and fellow council members unanimously appointed her to the role.

"As your Mayor I must tell you about something that has been with me since my earliest memories,"聽Ms. Herbst wrote last month聽in an open letter聽posted on New Hope's website. "I am Transgender."

Herbst's wife of 36 years and other close friends and family have known about her identity for years, the mayor explained, and two years ago she began hormone replacement therapy. "At the time, I did not imagine I would hold the Mayor's position, but here I am," she said.

Herbst told the Washington Post that she has been 鈥渙verwhelmed by support鈥� since breaking the news.

鈥淲e applaud Mayor Herbst鈥檚 decision to serve her community openly in public office and take a stand against hateful rhetoric coming from some of our legislators,鈥� Terri Burke, the director of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Texas, told The New York Times.

In January,聽Senate Bill 6聽was introduced in the Texas Legislature. Like North Carolina鈥檚 鈥渂athroom bill,鈥� which made national headlines last year, S.B. 6 would require Texans to use whichever public restroom corresponds to the gender listed on their birth certificate, whether or not it is the one they identify with.

"For deep red Texas, which passed one of the most aggressive antiabortion laws in the nation (later struck down by the United States Supreme Court), transgender rights might seem a logical next target," 海角大神's Patrik Jonsson wrote last month. "November's elections have given conservatives nationwide momentum to push their agenda further."

But Texas' business ties to the rest of the country could test that, Mr. Jonsson noted, if S.B. 6 faces similar pushback to the measure in North Carolina.聽

Backers see it as a necessary safety measure. "Privacy and safety is our first priority, not political correctness," said Texas Lt. Governor Dan Patrick, who is leading the push to pass the bill, in early January.

Several investigations into transgender bathroom use, however, have failed to find a single confirmed case of assault or sexual crime in the United States in which a transgender person was the perpetrator.聽

But "as federal, state, and local governments across the United States debate who should regulate sex-segregated restrooms, spawning controversies over alleged violations of transgender rights, most Americans don't really know the people whose rights are being debated,"聽as the Monitor's Steven Porter reported in September:

In New Hope, Herbst聽鈥渨ill continue as Mayor and hope to do the very best for the town,鈥� as she wrote to residents.聽But her visibility as a transgender official may extend beyond the town. She plans to meet with other public officials who have told her they are also transgender, as聽she told the Dallas Morning News on Wednesday.

"There are way more of us than most people understand," Herbst said. "The more people are honest, the easier it's going to become for the rest of us to come out and be public about who we really are."