Lupe Valdez
By Max Linsky | May 26th, 2009
http://thestimulist.com/lupe-valdez/Let's tick off the firsts that went down on November 2, 2004, shall we? When Lupe Valdez was elected Sheriff of Dallas, she became the first woman, the first person of color, and the first lesbian to hold the job. Oh, and she's a Democrat, too. "I think everyone was surprised but me," she told Carlos [video below]. "I didn't think it was such a big deal. I've always thought it was more about the person."
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But that's exactly what Valdez set out to do, bringing incremental changes to Dallas over the last five years. She's had her share of naysayers, but the lone woman sheriff in Texas continues to run the department with her distinct style. She routinely quotes Martin Luther King and Gandhi, and condemns excessive violence. In January she instituted rules in the department to protect employees against harassment based on gender identity—a step beyond the rest of the city's guidelines.
