Mel Wymore Chooses People Over Politics
Lucy McKeon
November 5, 2012
http://www.thenation.com/article/171050/mel-wymore-chooses-people-over-politics#"When I was a kid I was a beekeeper. It was my hobby," says Mel Wymore, a candidate for New York City Council on the Upper West Side in the 2013 elections. "I used to love just opening up the hive and staring at the bees working together as a community.... It's also reminiscent of this feeling of being on the outside looking—when you are someone who feels different."
Wymore navigated feeling like an outsider, as most children do at one point or another, but his journey is particularly noteworthy. If elected, he will be the first openly transgender City Council member in a major US city. And while this would certainly be a victory to be celebrated, Wymore hopes that his identity won't distract from his qualifications as a community organizer, political activist and leader. "My challenge," says Wymore, is that "being transgender...has the potential to become a distraction from my actual qualities as a leader."
