If elected, Veronica Pejril would be Indiana’s first openly transgender state lawmaker

More than 1,000 LGBTQ+ candidates are on ballots across the country this November. And about 15 percent are transgender, according to the LGBTQ+ Victory Fund.

If elected on Nov. 5, Veronica Pejril would become Indiana’s first openly transgender state lawmaker.

Pejril won her seat on the Greencastle City Council with 67 percent of the vote in 2019. She said Indiana’s recent anti-LGBTQ+ laws are among the reasons she decided to run.

“I’m not here running on the ballot to make history,” Pejril said. “I’m running to make a difference in my community.”

There is only one openly LGBTQ+ lawmaker serving in the General Assembly. Pejril said that isn’t reflective of Indiana and is detrimental to good policy.

“I think that any legislative body — whether it’s the Indiana General Assembly, the Greencastle or the U.S. House of Representatives — they work best when those bodies look like the people who they serve,” she said.

To reach proportional representative government, groups like the LGBTQ+ Victory Fund estimate about 30,000 LGBTQ+ candidates would need to be elected.

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Pejril said just being a member of the Indiana Senate could be “impactful.”

“Simply by representing and working across the aisle to make good policy helps folks see who we really are, rather than the boogeyman that some would have us painted as,” she said.

Pejril faces Republican candidate Brett Clark in the race to replace Sen. John Crane (R-Avon), who decided not to seek reelection for a third term.
 

Lauren is our digital editor. Contact her at lauren@ipbnews.org or follow her on Twitter at @laurenechapman_.