All members elected to Palm Springs city council part of LGBTQ community

by Rebecca Savransky - 11/20/17 10:36 AM ET

A city in California has elected a city council in which every person who will be on the panel is a member of the LGBTQ community.

The council currently includes three gay men.

Two new members of the council will be sworn in next month, the Los Angeles Times reported, making it an all-LGBTQ council.

{mosads}The two members — Lisa Middleton, who is a transgender woman, and Christy Holstege, who identifies as bisexual — will join the group next month after winning elections to fill the two open seats.

The city council is thought to be the first all-LGBTQ city council in the country, according to the Los Angeles Times.

Holstege said representation is important, but she is focused on the issues in the city.

“We really focused on local issues, we are not running because of those identities,” Holstege told the newspaper. “But it is still historic for the movement. I do think representation matters, and we should continue to be a model city for civil rights.”

Similarly, Middleton said she intends to “stick to the important issues of local municipal government.”

“None of those issues have anything to do with one’s sexuality or one’s gender identity,” she said, according to the Los Angeles Times.

Earlier this month, Virginia House of Delegates candidate Danica Roem (D) defeated her opponent to become Virginia’s first openly transgender elected official.

Minneapolis City Council candidate Andrea Jenkins also won her race earlier this month, becoming the first openly transgender woman of color elected to public office in the U.S.

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