Trans tech executive could become first out officeholder in western Tennessee

A Memphis-area tech consultant with a background in mutual aid and LGBTQ+ advocacy is now trying her hand at county government. If successful, Lena Chipman would be the first out trans person elected to public office in western Tennessee, according to her campaign team.

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Chipman, a Democrat, is running for a seat on the Shelby County Board of Commissioners representing District 13, centered around East Memphis. Chipman told The Advocate her campaign is focused on community well-being and fighting back against policies enacted at the state and federal levels that she considers harmful.

“I’m not running to be more of the same. I’m not running to be a centrist Democrat who doesn’t make any changes.” Chipman said. “I want to solve the big problems. I want to create big impact.”

From corporate offices to community organizing

For Chipman, making a difference begins with channeling lessons from their professional and personal life. For starters, Chipman has lived in Shelby County since 1985. Close familiarity with the area and its needs makes for more effective leadership, they said.

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Chipman also points to their background in the tech industry. After earning a graduate degree from the University of Memphis, they rose through the ranks and became a senior executive at a Fortune 500 company, they said.

“It gives me a lot of background in: How do you negotiate complex systems?” Chipman said. “How do you solve problems when you have multiple competing stakeholders that all want different things?”

Outside the corporate world, Chipman said they became involved in mutual aid efforts decades ago, but expanded their advocacy after coming out as transgender about four years ago. “It became really apparent that if I didn't get out there and help do the work, then it wasn't going to get done,” they said.

Chipman would be the first out trans person elected to public office in western Tennessee.Photo courtesy of the Lena Chipman for County Commission 13 campaign

Putting beliefs into practice

Chipman became involved with local nonprofits and LGBTQ+ advocacy groups, even delivering remarks outside Memphis City Hall at a pro-trans-rights demonstration organized by LGBTQ+ activist groups in 2023.

Chipman hopes to combine these experiences into a county commission platform focused on effective management and community uplift. That means better local transit, a stronger social safety net, and local protection against policies passed by higher levels of government, they said.

One proposal would give Shelby County at least partial oversight of the Memphis Area Transit Authority, which currently operates under city leadership. Chipman said regional oversight could help expand service to communities that are currently harder to reach.

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“When you don’t have an effective transit system, it touches all the different problems that you have inside of the county,” Chipman said. “Lack of transit drives poverty. … It affects even things like education. If your kid has no easy way to get around the city, then now you have incurred the cost.”

Chipman also supports expanding bus transit infrastructure, subsidized internships connected to union jobs, improved support for people attending pretrial and probation appointments, and a publicly funded motorsports venue intended to reduce illegal drag racing on county roads.

“All of these things have worked together to fight poverty,” they said.

Out in public office

Chipman’s campaign comes at a time when trans people across the United States, and especially in Southern states like Tennessee, face threats to their health care, employment, and even daily lives. If elected, Chipman would be just the second out trans person elected in Tennessee, following the election of Olivia Hill to local office in Nashville in 2023.

But Chipman said her campaign would be stronger precisely because she is not part of the “status quo.”

“This office gives you a megaphone. The moment you are in any form of political office, you have a voice that is louder,” Chipman said. “This voice gives me the ability to advocate.”

Chipman said LGBTQ+ rights would figure prominently in her work as a county commissioner. They suggested providing tax incentives to developers who build properties with non-gendered facilities, in light of state laws restricting trans people from accessing the bathrooms that align with their gender.

With Shelby County’s primary municipal election set for May 5, Chipman said they hope their message resonates with voters across the district.

“I'm not running because I want to be in office, [or] because we need trans people in office. We do, but that's not why I'm doing this,” Chipman said. “I'm doing this because I've seen the challenges that Shelby County has. … And we need people who are willing to actually change things.”

This article was written as part of the Future of Queer Media fellowship program at The Advocate, which is underwritten by a generous gift from Morrison Media Group. The program helps support the next generation of LGBTQ+ journalists.