New Rep. Jennifer Wexton applauded for displaying transgender flag outside Capitol Hill office

The new congresswoman for Virginia’s 10th District started the term by placing a transgender flag outside her office. (Photo: Andrew Harrer/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
The new congresswoman for Virginia’s 10th District started the term by placing a transgender flag outside her office. (Photo: Andrew Harrer/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

When Jennifer Wexton was sworn in as the new Democratic congresswoman for Virginia’s 10th Congressional District on Thursday, she kicked off her first term by symbolically standing up for LGBTQ rights. Outside her new office stands a transgender flag right next to the Virginia state flag.

Narissa Rahaman, who works for the LGBT civil rights advocacy group Human Rights Campaign, posted a photo of the flag on Facebook. “This moment truly brought me to tears,” she wrote.

According to her post, the congresswoman asked, “Did you see the flag? I think we’re the only office on the Hill with one.”

“Wow, I love this ever so much. What a lovely thing to do,” one Facebook commenter wrote.

“Out of all the pictures from today this one means so much to me,” another said.

LGBTQ activists and politicians also praised the move, including Danica Roem, who became the first openly transgender person to serve in any state legislature when she took office in 2018.

Wexton defeated incumbent Republican Barbara Comstock in the midterm election, vowing on the campaign trail to defend the LGBTQ community’s rights. While serving in the Virginia state Senate, Wexton helped pass legislation aimed at protecting LGBTQ folks from discrimination.

“Jennifer Wexton is a proven leader who will stand up in the U.S. Congress for Virginia’s working families and help pull the emergency brakes on the Trump-Pence administration’s reckless agenda,” said JoDee Winterhof, Human Rights Campaign senior vice president for policy and political affairs, when the organization endorsed Wexton for Congress.

She’s also an aunt to a transgender child, according to Washingtonian magazine.

“The trans community has been under attack,” Wexton told Washingtonian magazine about her decision to display the flag. “I wanted to show my solidarity because we are talking about my friends and family.”

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