Stephanie Byers (born February 5, 1963) is an American politician and educator who served in the

Kansas House of Representatives The Kansas House of Representatives is the lower house of the legislature of the U.S. state of Kansas. Composed of 125 state representatives from districts with roughly equal populations of at least 19,000, its members are responsible for craftin ...

from the 86th district. Her victory in the 2020 election made her the first openly transgender person to serve in the

Kansas Legislature The Kansas Legislature is the state legislature of the U.S. state of Kansas. It is a bicameral assembly, composed of the lower Kansas House of Representatives, with 125 state representatives, and the upper Kansas Senate, with 40 state sen ...

and the first transgender Native American person, a member of the

Chickasaw Nation The Chickasaw Nation () is a federally recognized Indigenous nation with headquarters in Ada, Oklahoma, in the United States. The Chickasaw Nation descends from an Indigenous population historically located in the southeastern United States, in ...

, elected to office in the United States, but she did not run for reelection.

Early life and education

Stephanie Byers was born February 5, 1963, in

Norman, Oklahoma Norman () is the List of municipalities in Oklahoma, 3rd most populous city in the U.S. state of Oklahoma, with a population of 128,026 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. It is the most populous city and the county seat of Clevel ...

. Byers came out as transgender in 2014. Byers graduated from

Oklahoma Christian University Oklahoma Christian University (OC) is a private Christian university in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. It was founded in 1950 by members of the Churches of Christ. History Oklahoma Christian University, originally named Central Christian College, ...

with a

Bachelor of Music A Bachelor of Music (BMus; sometimes conferred as Bachelor of Musical Arts) is an academic degree awarded by a college, university, or conservatory upon completion of a program of study in music. The degree may be awarded for performance, music ed ...

Education in 1986 and later

Kansas State University Kansas State University (KSU, Kansas State, or K-State) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university with its main campus in Manhattan, Kansas, United States. It was opened as the state's land-grant coll ...

with a

Master of Music The Master of Music (MM or MMus) is, as an academic title, the first graduate degree in music awarded by universities and conservatories. The MM combines advanced studies in an applied area of specialization (usually performance in singing or i ...

in 2015.

Career

Teaching

Byers taught at

Wichita North High School Wichita North High School, known locally as North, is a public secondary school in Wichita, Kansas, United States. It is operated by Wichita USD 259 school district and serves students in grades 9 to 12. The school was founded in 1929 on the si ...

for 29 years before retiring in 2019. In 2018, she was given the National Educator of the Year award by the

GLSEN GLSEN (pronounced ''glisten''; formerly the Gay, Lesbian & Straight Education Network) is an American education organization working to end discrimination, harassment, and bullying based on sexual orientation, gender identity and gender expres ...

. From 2018 to 2020, she served on the board of Wichita Pride where during her tenure she served as the Communications Director and Board Secretary. She spoke at a rally outside of the

Supreme Court of the United States The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all Federal tribunals in the United States, U.S. federal court cases, and over Stat ...

on behalf of GLSEN while the court was hearing arguments in ''

Bostock v. Clayton County ''Bostock v. Clayton County'', , is a landmark United States Supreme Court civil rights decision in which the Court held that Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 protects employees against discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation ...

''.

Kansas House of Representatives

In 2019, Byers announced that she would seek the Democratic nomination for the

from the 86th district to succeed Jim Ward, who was seeking election to the

Kansas Senate The Kansas Senate is the upper house of the Kansas Legislature, the state legislature of the U.S. State of Kansas. It is composed of 40 senators elected from single-member districts, each with a population of about 73,000 inhabitants. Members o ...

. She won the Democratic nomination and was elected in the general election becoming the first transgender person elected to the Kansas legislature and the first transgender Native American (as a member of the

) elected to office in the United States. During the campaign she raised $31,578.15 while her Republican opponent,

Cyndi Howerton Cyndi Howerton is an American politician serving as a member of the Kansas House of Representatives from the 98th district. He was appointed on August 25, 2021. Career Outside of politics, Howerton works as a tax service manager. He was the R ...

, raised $9,360.05. In June 2022, she dropped out of her primary for reelection, citing a need for devoting attention to dealing with health issues experienced by both her own and her wife's aging parents. She described the prior legislative session as "tough," adding, "We knew going in that we were going to see legislation that was going to attack the trans community. It was accompanied by hateful comments on social media. Hateful emails." Despite having received support from many people she added, "there's an emotional exhaustion that comes from having those repeated attacks over and over again."

Electoral history

References

External links

Stephanie Byers campaign website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Byers, Stephanie Living people 1963 births 21st-century American educators 21st-century American women politicians American women music educators Chickasaw people LGBTQ state legislators in Kansas Democratic Party members of the Kansas House of Representatives Native American state legislators in Kansas Native American women in politics Schoolteachers from Kansas 21st-century American women educators American transgender women Transgender women politicians Women state legislators in Kansas LGBTQ Native Americans LGBTQ people from Oklahoma 20th-century Native American people 21st-century Native American politicians 20th-century Native American women 21st-century Native American women American transgender politicians Native American people from Oklahoma 21st-century members of the Kansas Legislature