Olivia Hill is the first openly transgender person ever elected to Nashville's Metro Council, per The Tennessean.
And according to LGBTQ+ Victory Fund, Hill, 57, is the first transgender woman elected in Tennessee.
Hill secured one of the Council's five at-large seats in the Sept. 14 runoff election with 12.9% of the vote. She joins a historic number of women elected to the council. All five at-large members will be women, as well as 17 district councilmembers. That adds up to 22 women—a majority of the 40-member council.
"For every trans kid in the state of Tennessee that has felt discomfort or that they didn't belong..." Hill said. "We are valid. We are who we say we are. And we are going to move forward."
According to her website, Hill—a single parent of two adult children and four grandchildren—is a U.S. Navy veteran, having served in the engineering division for 10 years and seeing combat in Desert Storm. In recent years, Hill has served as a community leader, educating the public about the difficulties faced by women and the LGBTQ+ community.
Hill underwent her gender transition while working for Vanderbilt University, The Tennessean added. Hill said she faced continuous and egregious workplace discrimination around the time of her transition, leading her to sue the university in 2021, shortly before her retirement. Hill and the school reached a settlement three months later.
—Andrew Davis
