Election Results: LGBT Races to Watch

It was truly a landslide for equality all across the country, including wins at the ballot box for marriage equality, the first gay U.S. senator, and a new generation of representatives in Congress.

BY Michelle Garcia

November 06 2012 6:37 PM ET UPDATED: November 12 2012 4:13 PM ET

Stacie Laughton — New Hampshire House of Representatives
RESULT: Laughton Wins

In another of many history-making victories in Tuesday’s election, New Hampshire has voted in its first openly transgender legislator.

Stacie Laughton, a Democrat from Nashua, won a seat in the state House of Representatives, defeating two Republican opponents, that city’s Telegraph newspaper reports.

“I believe that at this point, the LGBT community will hopefully be inspired,” Laughton told the Telegraph. “My hope is that now maybe we’ll see more people in the community running, maybe for alderman. Maybe in the next election, we’ll have a senator.”

Laughton said she plans to work on a variety of issues in the legislature. She will back measures making it easier for transgender people to change their gender on state-issued IDs and to use the restroom of their choice, but she will also be an advocate for the homeless and people with disabilities, the Telegraph notes. Strengthening public schools is another of her priorities.