Jeanette Mott Oxford (born July 16, 1954) is an American activist and politician from

Missouri Missouri (''see #Etymology and pronunciation, pronunciation'') is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. Ranking List of U.S. states and territories by area, 21st in land area, it border ...

. She is a currently the Executive Director of the Missouri Association for Social Welfare, after having served as a member of the

Missouri House of Representatives The Missouri House of Representatives is the lower chamber of the Missouri General Assembly. It has 163 members, representing districts with an average size of 37,000 residents. House members are elected for two-year terms during general elections ...

, representing a portion of

St. Louis St. Louis ( , sometimes referred to as St. Louis City, Saint Louis or STL) is an independent city in the U.S. state of Missouri. It lies near the confluence of the Mississippi and the Missouri rivers. In 2020, the city proper had a populatio ...

. A

Democrat Democrat, Democrats, or Democratic may refer to: Politics *A proponent of democracy, or democratic government; a form of government involving rule by the people. *A member of a Democratic Party: **Democratic Party (Cyprus) (DCY) **Democratic Part ...

, she was the first openly

lesbian A lesbian is a homosexual woman or girl. The word is also used for women in relation to their sexual identity or sexual behavior, regardless of sexual orientation, or as an adjective to characterize or associate nouns with female homosexu ...

member of the Missouri Legislature.

Biography

Oxford was born in

Eldorado, Illinois Eldorado () is a city in Saline County, Illinois, United States. The population was 4,122 at the 2010 census, with a 1980 peak of 5,198. Although the city's name is spelled as if it were Spanish, the name was originally "Eldereado" or "Elder- ...

and graduated from Cave-in-Rock High School in

Cave-in-Rock, Illinois Cave-In-Rock is a village in Hardin County, Illinois, Hardin County, Illinois, United States. Its principal feature and tourist attraction is nearby Cave-in-Rock State Park, Cave-In-Rock, on the banks of the Ohio River. In 1816, the earliest kno ...

. She received an Associate of Arts degree from

Southeastern Illinois College Southeastern Illinois College is a public community college between Harrisburg and Equality in Saline County, Illinois. The college was founded in 1960 and offers associate degrees. A secondary campus, the David L. Stanley White County Center, i ...

Harrisburg, Illinois Harrisburg () is a city in and the county seat of Saline County, Illinois, United States. It is located about southwest of Evansville, Indiana, and southeast of St. Louis, Missouri. Its 2020 population was 8,219, and the surrounding Harris ...

in 1974 and a

Bachelor of Arts A Bachelor of Arts (abbreviated B.A., BA, A.B. or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is the holder of a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the liberal arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts deg ...

degree from

Southern Illinois University-Carbondale Southern Illinois University (SIU) is a Public university, public research university in Carbondale, Illinois, United States. Chartered in 1869, SIU is the oldest and flagship campus of the Southern Illinois University system. SIU enrolls stude ...

in 1986. Oxford attended

Eden Theological Seminary Eden Theological Seminary is a Christian seminary based in Webster Groves, Missouri. It is one of the six official seminaries of the United Church of Christ (UCC). History The seminary was established in 1850 by German pastors in Marthasville ...

Webster Groves, Missouri Webster Groves is an inner-ring Greater St. Louis, suburb of St. Louis in St. Louis County, Missouri, United States. The population was 24,010 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. The city is home to the main campus of Webster Universit ...

and graduated with her

Master of Divinity For graduate-level theological institutions, the Master of Divinity (MDiv, ''magister divinitatis'' in Latin) is the first professional degree of the pastoral profession in North America. It is the most common academic degree in seminaries and ...

in 1989. Prior to her political career, Oxford served as executive director of the Reform Organization of Welfare (ROWEL) and as a grassroots coordinator for the American Lung Association, both in St. Louis. Oxford's political career began in 2000, when she sought election to the Missouri House of Representatives. She narrowly lost the Democratic

primary election Primary elections or primaries are elections held to determine which candidates will run in an upcoming general election. In a partisan primary, a political party selects a candidate. Depending on the state and/or party, there may be an "open pr ...

Russ Carnahan John Russell Carnahan (born July 10, 1958) is an American politician from the state of Missouri. A member of the Democratic Party, he served as the U.S. representative for from 2005 to 2013. At the time, the district included the southern thir ...

. In 2004, Carnahan gave up the State Representative seat to run for Congress. She ran again for the seat, and was successful. She won in a three-way Democratic primary in August 2004, and obtained almost 90% of the vote against a Libertarian opponent in the November 2004 general election. Oxford won re-nomination as the Democratic party candidate in the August 2006 primary, obtaining 81% of the vote against opponent Mark Rice, who also opposed her in the three-way August 2004 primary. She faced only a Libertarian opponent in the November 2006 general election and won by more than eight-to-one. She faced no primary opposition in 2008, though a Libertarian filed to run against her in November.Cumulative List of Offices Filed in Candidate Filing, Missouri (2008)
sos.mo.gov; accessed November 25, 2014. She ran unopposed for re-election in 2010 and was elected to a final term in the House.

Term limit A term limit is a legal restriction on the number of terms a person may serve in a particular elected office. When term limits are found in presidential and semi-presidential systems they act as a method of curbing the potential for monopoly, w ...

s prevented her from seeking a fifth term in 2012.Legislative homepage
house.mo.gov; accessed November 25, 2014. Oxford is an active member of Epiphany

United Church of Christ The United Church of Christ (UCC) is a socially liberal mainline Protestant Christian denomination based in the United States, with historical and confessional roots in the Congregational, Restorationist, Continental Reformed, and Lutheran t ...

in St. Louis, and resides in the Benton Park neighborhood with her partner, Dorothy. She was one of three openly gay members of the

Missouri General Assembly The Missouri General Assembly is the State legislature (United States), state legislature of the U.S. state of Missouri. The bicameral General Assembly is composed of a 34-member Missouri Senate, Senate and a 163-member Missouri House of Represen ...

, serving alongside Sen. Jolie Justus (D–

Kansas City The Kansas City metropolitan area is a bi-state metropolitan area anchored by Kansas City, Missouri. Its 14 counties straddle the border between the U.S. states of Missouri (9 counties) and Kansas (5 counties). With and a population of more t ...

) and Rep. Mike Colona (D–St. Louis). Her campaigns won the backing of the

Gay & Lesbian Victory Fund LGBTQ+ Victory Fund (formerly the Gay & Lesbian Victory Fund and LGBTQ Victory Fund), commonly shortened to Victory Fund, is an American political action committee dedicated to increasing the number of out LGBTQ+ public officials in the United ...

References

External links

Profile
Missouri Association for Social Welfare official website; accessed November 25, 2014.

house.mo.gov/billtracking; accessed November 25, 2014.

, semissourian.com; accessed November 25, 2014
Profile
votesmart.org; accessed November 25, 2014. {{DEFAULTSORT:Oxford, Jeanette Mott American lesbian politicians LGBTQ Protestants LGBTQ state legislators in Missouri LGBTQ people from Illinois Democratic Party members of the Missouri House of Representatives Politicians from St. Louis United Church of Christ members Women state legislators in Missouri 1954 births Living people People from Eldorado, Illinois 21st-century American women politicians Lesbian Christians 21st-century members of the Missouri General Assembly