A transgender candidate takes on Virginia’s ‘Minister of Private Parts’ - The Washington Post

"Traffic. Schools. Jobs. Getting to their jobs, so back to traffic.



That’s what Northern Virginia voters want to talk about when a transgender woman with a rainbow headscarf and slashing black eyeliner knocks on their door.



Which is weird. Because given all the legislation proposed in the Virginia General Assembly on these constituents’ behalf, you’d think the conversations would be nothing but bathrooms, abortions and sex when someone such as Danica Roem shows up.



Roem, 32, has made history, becoming the first openly transgender candidate to win a state primary in Virginia. Now the Democratic nominee is trying to unseat her polar opposite in the 13th District: 25-year incumbent Del. Robert G. Marshall (R-Prince William).



And she believes she can win exactly because she has little interest in talking about sex, body parts or gender identity — the meat and potatoes of Marshall’s public life.



In a rapidly developing part of the state that desperately needs a traffic czar, Marshall instead styles himself as Virginia’s self-appointed “Minister of Private Parts...”





A transgender candidate takes on Virginia’s ‘Minister of Private Parts’ - The Washington Post