Stephe Koontz | |
---|---|
![]() | |
Member of the Doraville City Council | |
Assumed office January 2018 | |
Preceded by | Sharon Spangler |
Stephe Koontz is an American politician, and the first out transgender person to win a contested election in the U.S. state of Georgia. [1] [2] [3] She won a city council seat in the Metro Atlanta city of Doraville on November 7, 2017, [4] on what the Washington Post called "a "historic night for the nation’s transgender community", in which six openly transgender people won elections in the United States. [1] A 32-year resident and political activist in the city, she won by a narrow margin of six votes. [5]
Koontz was invited to speak at the Georgia Alliance for Social Justice and Women's March "Power to the Polls" event on January 21, 2018. [2] She was also featured, with other history-making elected officials, in Human Rights Campaign's nationally distributed Equality magazine. [6] She was given the 2019 Allen Thornell Political Advancement Award by Georgia Equality for her promotion of non-discrimination ordinances across Metro Atlanta cities. [7]
In November 2021, she was re-elected to the Doraville City Council for another four year term, where she will continue to serve as the only openly transgender elected official in the Southeastern United States. [8] She was sworn in on June 26, 2022, as a member of the board of directors of the Georgia Municipal Association for 2022–2023 as the president of District 3 East, which covers the eastern half of metro Atlanta. [9]
Koontz has lived in Doraville since 1985, [5] and retired before running for office. She had owned and managed a few auto repair shops and had worked as a church administrator. She was a director for the Presbytery of Greater Atlanta and a lieutenant governor for the North Atlanta Division of Kiwanis service clubs. [10]
{{
cite web}}
: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (
link)Stephe Koontz was re-elected to the Doraville, GA City Council where she will continue to serve as the only openly transgender elected official in the Southeastern United States.
Stephe Koontz | |
---|---|
![]() | |
Member of the Doraville City Council | |
Assumed office January 2018 | |
Preceded by | Sharon Spangler |
Stephe Koontz is an American politician, and the first out transgender person to win a contested election in the U.S. state of Georgia. [1] [2] [3] She won a city council seat in the Metro Atlanta city of Doraville on November 7, 2017, [4] on what the Washington Post called "a "historic night for the nation’s transgender community", in which six openly transgender people won elections in the United States. [1] A 32-year resident and political activist in the city, she won by a narrow margin of six votes. [5]
Koontz was invited to speak at the Georgia Alliance for Social Justice and Women's March "Power to the Polls" event on January 21, 2018. [2] She was also featured, with other history-making elected officials, in Human Rights Campaign's nationally distributed Equality magazine. [6] She was given the 2019 Allen Thornell Political Advancement Award by Georgia Equality for her promotion of non-discrimination ordinances across Metro Atlanta cities. [7]
In November 2021, she was re-elected to the Doraville City Council for another four year term, where she will continue to serve as the only openly transgender elected official in the Southeastern United States. [8] She was sworn in on June 26, 2022, as a member of the board of directors of the Georgia Municipal Association for 2022–2023 as the president of District 3 East, which covers the eastern half of metro Atlanta. [9]
Koontz has lived in Doraville since 1985, [5] and retired before running for office. She had owned and managed a few auto repair shops and had worked as a church administrator. She was a director for the Presbytery of Greater Atlanta and a lieutenant governor for the North Atlanta Division of Kiwanis service clubs. [10]
{{
cite web}}
: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (
link)Stephe Koontz was re-elected to the Doraville, GA City Council where she will continue to serve as the only openly transgender elected official in the Southeastern United States.