Who Is Mayor Jess Herbst? Texas Woman Becomes State's First Openly Transgender Mayor

The mayor of a small Texas town has become the first openly transgender mayor in state history after coming out in a post on the town's website, the Texas Observer reported Tuesday.

"As your mayor I must tell you about something that has been with me since my earliest memories. I am transgender," New Hope Mayor Jess Herbst wrote in an open letter to residents published on the town's municipal website. "I live my life as a female now, and I will be performing my duties to the town as such."

Herbst was elected as an alderman to the Town Council and was appointed mayor after the previous mayor, Johnny Hamm, died in the run up to the election. Herbst begin transitioning with hormone replacement therapy two years ago, she wrote.

Herbst formerly went by "Jeff," and said in the letter she wasn't "especially sensitive to the pronoun I’m called, and I expect people to take time to make the change."

In the letter, Herbst wrote that she has lived in New Hope since 1999 with her wife and two daughters.

"I love my wife, and she loves me, we have no intention of change," Herbst wrote. "My daughters have been adamant supporters of me and are proud to tell people their father is transgender."

New Hope is a conservative leaning suburb of McKinney. President Donald Trump won the vote there by 17 percentage points in November, the Observer said. Herbst said she has received support from residents.

“I have received emails congratulating me, calling me brave and even one expressing pride in living in a town with a mayor like me,” Herbst told the Huffington Post. “I never hoped for more than simple tolerance, the outpouring of support is unprecedented.”

Herbst follows in the footsteps of Stu Rasmussen, who became the first openly transgender mayor in the U.S. Rasmussen was elected mayor of Silverton, Oregon, in 2008.

Herbst's announcement comes as the Texas Legislature is considering a "bathroom bill" that would require transgender people use the bathroom corresponding to their "biological sex" when in government buildings and public schools and universities.