ABOVE: Palana Belken (center) with supporters. (Photo from Belken’s Facebook)
ROCHESTER, N.H. (AP) | An American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) representative has made history as the first openly transgender person to be elected to a city council in New Hampshire.
Seacoastonline.com reports 30-year-old Palana Belken was elected Nov. 5 in Rochester. She defeated longtime incumbent city councilor and Democratic state rep. Sandra Keans. The vote was 342-300. She was one of three LGBTQ residents elected to the 12-seat City Council.
Belken, the trans justice organizer for the ACLU of New Hampshire, said she heard a lot of ideas and received a lot of valuable insight from residents over the past several weeks on such issues like the downtown’s revitalization, substance use disorder and housing affordability as she campaigned.
She said most people “just saw me as a young person looking to get elected.”
