TRANSGENDER WOMAN POISED TO WIN PRIMARY

Wendy Seymone · Post by **Wendy Seymone** » Sun Aug 22, 2004 11:19 am

TRANSGENDER WOMAN POISED TO WIN PRIMARY

by: GLBTSSS, OIA Newswire

A Tucson woman is running for the Arizona House of Representatives and making history.

Amanda Simpson is head of advanced and special programs at Raytheon. KOLD News 13 introduced you to her three years ago, when she went public with her sex change. Now, Simpson is set to be the first transsexual in the nation to win a primary.

Simpson doesn't want her gender to take away from her plans for the future of Arizona. Her political platform includes improving education, dealing with Arizona's explosive population growth, and affordable healthcare.

But politics can get dirty. And Simpson says she plans to stay away from the mud slinging by sticking to the issues.

"The issues that affect this state that are important to this district, that are crucial to this county have nothing to do with my gender," she says.

Simpson is unopposed in the September 7th Democratic primary election for District 26. She'll become the first openly transgender candidate nominated for state office by a major political party in the United States.

"But that's not why I'm running," she says.

Simpson wants to bring change through affective leadership. In addition to her Raytheon position, she's an airline transport pilot and a certified flight instructor. Now she's expanding her wings into the sometimes vicious ring of politics.

"I certainly don't deny what I am. If they want to alert the world that I'm a transgendered person that's fine. I'm not going to deny that."

Simpson says legislators have not been making good decisions, trading away Arizona's future with short-sighted decisions.

But are Arizonans ready for a transexual candidate? Simpson believes they are, and she's counting on their vote.

Simpson has a tough race ahead of her. She's one of four candidates vying for two seats in district 26. She's up against incumbent Republicans Steve Huffman and Pete Hershberger and Democrat Martin Drozdoff.

All four will advance to the general election when voters will vote for only two of them.

Virginia · Post by **Virginia** » Sun Aug 22, 2004 6:36 pm

Amanda - You go Girl!!!!!!"
Virginia

CJ · Post by CJ » Mon Aug 23, 2004 6:52 am

Alexandra · Post by **Alexandra** » Tue Aug 24, 2004 1:04 am

this is her picture,

Chantelle · Post by **Chantelle** » Tue Aug 24, 2004 12:17 pm

Great thread Wendy!!!!

Carolynn · Post by **Carolynn** » Tue Aug 24, 2004 12:54 pm

Hi Wendy!!!

. Good thread. Hope the lady wins, as it would be good to have elements of a positive- ie normal- image for a survivor of GID. It might be rough on her, but I think she could handle most of the crudity her opponents could come up with to denigrate her. She is already "out there" so hopefully her transition won't become an issue. However, given the current apparent attitude of the country about gays and gay marriage, I dunno. Lets all wish her the best, and if you live in her area of Arizona, vote!!!!