See photos and details of first Mayor of Texas who is a transgender

Just days before a public town meeting on Tuesday night, Jess Herbst, the mayor of New Hope, Tex., had an official announcement.

“I am transgender.”

The statement said that she had transitioned and would no longer use the name Jeff.

The message was a few hundred words long and appeared on the home screen of the official website of New Hope, a town of more than 630 residents about 40 miles north of Dallas. But she appeared to break barriers for the state.

“As far as I know, I am the first openly transgender mayor on record in the state of Texas; there could be others who never came out,” Ms. Herbst said in an interview on Wednesday. “But I am the first to say, ‘Yes I am transgender and a seated mayor.’ ”

Ms. Herbst informed residents in a statement on the town’s website about the change, and the joys of her life as a woman, including her preference in pronouns and the endurance of her marriage.

“As your mayor I must tell you about something that has been with me since my earliest memories,” Ms. Herbst wrote. “I am Transgender. Two years ago, with the support of my wife, daughters and son-in-law, I began hormone replacement therapy (HRT).

“At the time, I did not imagine I would hold the mayor’s position, but here I am.”

Ms. Herbst has been active in local government since 2003 as an elected alderman, road commissioner and mayor pro tempore. In 2016, she was appointed New Hope’s mayor after the previous official in that post died.

As of Wednesday morning, the New Hope town website was still referring to her as Mayor Jeff Herbst.

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