Kate Brown made history yesterday as she became governor of Oregon and the country’s first openly bisexual governor. She’s also a stepmom.
Brown, the former Oregon secretary of state, takes office after Gov. John Kitzhaber announced last week that he is resigning over corruption allegations. She becomes the country’s first bisexual governor and the first LGBTQ governor to be out when taking office. (Former New Jersey Governor Jim McGreevey came out as gay shortly before stepping down.)
Brown grew up in Minnesota, earned a Bachelor of Arts in environmental conservation with a certificate in women’s studies from the University of Colorado at Boulder and a law degree at Lewis and Clark Law School. She has practiced family and juvenile law and taught at Portland State University. In 1991, she was appointed to the state House of Representatives and in 1996, after winning two more terms, was elected to the Oregon Senate. She was chosen Senate Democratic leader in 1998 and Senate Majority Leader in 2004, the first woman to hold the office.
She has two stepchildren from her husband Dan Little’s previous marriage.
Brown wrote of her bisexuality in an essay for “Out and Elected in the USA,” in which she described coming out to family and friends, gay and straight. “Some days I feel like I have a foot in both worlds, yet never really belonging to either,” she said. Perhaps, though, her greater visibility as governor will allow her to use her dual citizenship to build bridges. For more on what her election could mean for bisexual visibility, see David Crary’s nice piece for the Associated Press.