(The Washington Post) At first, Mauree Turner tried to recruit other Oklahoma City activists to run for state office, insisting that it was important to send underrepresented candidates — queer, or working class, or people of color — to the state capitol.
But many of those approached instead turned to Turner, a 27-year-old criminal justice advocate, and reversed the proposition: Why not run for office yourself?
More than a year later, Turner — a queer, Black Muslim who wears a hijab and identifies as nonbinary — won a seat Tuesday in the Oklahoma state legislature‚ becoming the first openly nonbinary state lawmaker in the country.