Rebecca Blankenship (born August 24, 1993) is an American activist and politician. In 2022, Blankenship was elected to the

Berea Berea may refer to: Places Greece * Beroea, a place mentioned in the Acts of the Apostles, now known as Veria or Veroia * Veria, historically spelled and sometimes transliterated as Berea and site of the ancient city of Beroea Lesotho * Berea D ...

Independent School Board, making her the first openly transgender official elected in the state of Kentucky.

Early and personal life

Rebecca Blankenship is from

Benton, Kentucky Benton is a home rule-class city and the county seat of Marshall County, Kentucky, United States. The current mayor of this city is Rita Dotson. The population was 4,756 at the 2020 census. History Benton was founded in 1842 by John Bearden ...

and graduated from Marshall County High School. Blankenship was studying at

Transylvania University Transylvania University is a private university in Lexington, Kentucky, United States. It was founded in 1780 and is the oldest university in Kentucky. It offers 46 major programs, as well as dual-degree engineering programs, and is Higher educ ...

when she came out as transgender in 2012, becoming the first openly transgender student at the college. After taking time away from college, she returned to Transylvania University in 2017, graduating with her Bachelor of Arts (BA) degree in 2019. She graduated with a major in philosophy, politics, and economics with a minor in English. That same year, Blankenship also received the 2019 Judy Gaines Young Student Writing Award. Blankenship is continuing her education at Northern Kentucky University-Salmon P. Chase College of Law. She is projected to graduate from the Salmon P. Chase College of Law in May 2027. Blankenship married her wife, a

conversion therapy Conversion therapy is the pseudoscientific practice of attempting to change an individual's sexual orientation, romantic orientation, gender identity, or gender expression to align with heterosexual and cisgender norms. Methods that have ...

survivor, in 2019; the couple have a blended family of seven children. As a young adult, Blankenship struggled with alcoholism and addiction; she has been sober since 2016.

Career

Activism

Blankenship was the executive director of Ban Conversion Therapy Kentucky, an organization dedicated to protecting minors from

, pseudoscientific attempts to change an individual's sexual orientation or gender identity/expression. Blankenship was also the assistant executive director of the Kentucky Student Rights Coalition. Ban Conversion Therapy Kentucky (BCTK) was later dissolved by reason of unfiled annual reports by the

Kentucky Secretary of State The secretary of state of Kentucky is one of the constitutional officers of the U.S. state of Kentucky. It is now an elected office, but was an appointed office prior to 1891. The current secretary of state is Republican Party (United States), Re ...

Andy Beshear Andrew Graham Beshear ( ; born November 29, 1977) is an American attorney and politician serving as the 63rd governor of Kentucky since 2019. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, he served as the 50th attorney gen ...

, governor of Kentucky, signed an executive order to ban conversion therapy in September 2024. Blankenship has been an outspoken critic of state laws, such as House Bill 470, that target trans youth.

Political career

Blankenship was elected to the Kentucky State Central Executive Committee, becoming "the first openly trans person elected by delegates to the Kentucky Democratic Party’s leadership". In 2022, Blankenship was elected to a four-year term on the Berea Independent School Board, making her the first openly transgender official in

Kentucky Kentucky (, ), officially the Commonwealth of Kentucky, is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio to the north, West Virginia to the ...

. She was elected with 55 votes after filing as a write in candidate. She noted that she ran to improve the community's schools, which her children attend, and although she was running in a conservative area, "nobody bothered me about my trans identity, very much at all". As a member of the school board, her stated priorities included "pay raises for teachers, energy efficient classrooms and improving

vocational education Vocational education is education that prepares people for a skilled craft. Vocational education can also be seen as that type of education given to an individual to prepare that individual to be gainfully employed or self employed with req ...

". While continually advocating for more transgender individuals to run for public office, she emphasized the importance of looking at rural communities:

"It's not regular people who want to hurt us, it's national organizations that try to co-opt religion to build power through hate ..The fact that Kentucky's first openly trans elected official didn’t come from a city, but from a little bitty mountain town, proves that the stereotype of queerphobic rural conservatives is just not the reality ..My election showed that this is something that can happen. ..If a trans person can win here in an Appalachian state's hills, they can win anywhere."

On August 19, 2024, Blankenship resigned from the Berea Community School Board after moving with her partner to a house outside of the school district which left her legally ineligible for board service.

Legacy

In 2024,

Emma Curtis Emma Lee Curtis (born July 30, 1996) is an American politician, activist, and filmmaker from Kentucky. In 2024, she was elected to the Lexington-Fayette Urban County Council, representing the 4th District. Curtis assumed office on January 6, 2025 ...

was elected to the Lexington City Council as the first transgender person on the council, and the second openly transgender person in the state to hold public office, following Blankenship.

Awards and honors

* 24 to Watch in 2024, ''

Lexington Herald-Leader The ''Lexington Herald-Leader'' is a newspaper owned by the McClatchy Company and based in Lexington, Kentucky. According to the ''1999 Editor & Publisher International Yearbook'', the paid circulation of the ''Herald-Leader'' is the second larg ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Blankenship, Rebecca 1994 births Living people 21st-century American women politicians 21st-century Kentucky politicians 21st-century American LGBTQ people American LGBTQ rights activists American transgender politicians American transgender women American women activists LGBTQ people from Kentucky People from Benton, Kentucky Transylvania University alumni