TONI ATKINS
Toni Atkins is an embodiment of the American dream. Raised in poverty, the Democrat is now the 69th Speaker of the California State Assembly-and the first open lesbian to hold that office. (She even kissed her wife, Jennifer, after being sworn in.) Atkins was also the first lesbian mayor of San Diego for a short time after Mayor Dick Murphy resigned in 2005, and was the first lesbian governor of California when she temporarily took over that position on July 30, 2014, after several other politicians had to travel for various reasons. In her current role, Atkins fights for the rights of women, queer folk, veterans and the homeless; before taking on the gig she held a variety of jobs such as San Diego City Councilmember, director of clinic services at Womancare Health Center and staff representative of City Councilmember Christine Kehoe. “I´m from southwestern Virginia-the mountains,” she told The Los Angeles Times last year, “and really proud of the Appalachian culture. My parents were working-class people. We carried water from a spring; we had a smokehouse; we had an outhouse. … I got to represent folks in parts of San Diego who needed the same support and structure that I needed growing up in rural Virginia. When I see constituents with their stories, I see my mom, [and] I see my dad.” -GH
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