NEW HOPE (WBAP/KLIF News) – The mayor of a tiny North Texas town is the state’s first openly transgender elected official.
Mayor Jeff Herbst of New Town, near McKinney in Collin County, wrote an open letter to citizens about his new identity, Jess, and posted it on the city’s website Monday night.
Herbst said he always knew he was meant to be a woman and decided to undergo Hormone Replacement Therapy two years ago.
The mayor said before the letter was posted, he spoke with colleagues at City Hall and offered to resign. Herbst said they refused to accept the resignation and welcomed his new feminine identity with open arms.
“I need for it to be my story. I didn’t want it to be someone else’s story and the only way to do that is to stand up and say this is who I am and hopefully people would accept me,” said Herbst.
Herbst said the decision to come out was a little easier now because people have slowly become more accepting of the transgender community over the last few years. However, he admits that he was slightly concerned.
“People can be mean. There have been hate crimes. So, that was always in the back of my mind. But you know my community, they’re highly progressive, they’re intelligent, they’re warm, they’re just amazing Texans. So, I took and chance and it worked out for me,” he said.
Herbst was elected mayor of New Hope in May of 2016. Before that he had previously served as an alderman, road commissioner and Mayor pro-tem.
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