Transgender candidate in Orange County

Posted: Jul 19, 2012 11:03 PM EDT Updated: Jul 19, 2012 11:04 PM EDT
By Chase Cain, Reporter -

http://www.myfoxorlando.com/story/19070507/transgender-candidate-in-orange-co

FOX 35's Chase Cain asked, "Have you gotten any negative reactions from people when you're talking to them one on one?" Gina pauses before answering, "Sometimes."

Sometimes, you see, because "Gina" was born "Greg," Gregory Pingston of Brevard County.

[...]

"So what would that mean to you if that happens?" we asked. "You know," Duncan thinks, "That would mean a great deal to me. It means a great deal to the transgender community because we've achieved something, and we're progressing toward social equality. But it also means a great deal that the community is embracing diversity, and they're embracing social equality for all people."

As the campaign enters its final weeks, Duncan hopes voters and candidates remember one thing, "The focus should be, not on my gender, but on the issues and the concerns of the families of District 5."

WATCH: Transgender Candidate Out to Make History in Florida
Gina Duncan, a candidate for the Orange County, Fla., Commission, could be the first transgender person elected in the Southeast.
BY Trudy Ring
July 25 2012 9:30 PM ET

http://www.advocate.com/politics/transgender/2012/07/25/watch-transgender-candidate-out-make-history-florida

A transgender candidate for the Orange County Commission in central Florida is drawing favorable attention from local media.

Gina Duncan, who was born Gregory Pingston and transitioned in 2007 at age 50, is a small-business owner and former bank executive focusing on economic issues in her race. Duncan, a Democrat, was recently profiled by Orlando Fox affiliate WOFL.

The segment focuses on her tireless campaign efforts and her emphasis on job growth in the region, treating her transgender identity as incidental, while acknowledging the potentially history-making nature of her candidacy, as she would be the first transgender person elected to office in the southeastern United States. Reporter Chase Cain does ask her when being transgender will not longer be an issue, and she says, "Maybe not in my lifetime, but someday being transgender means no more than being right- or left-handed."