some made their way through the narrow alleys of an arab neighbourhood, waving flags and chanting slogans. the palestinian red cross said more than 70 people were injured in clashes. now on bbc news stephen sackur is in washington with hardtalk. welcome to hardtalk from washington. i m stephen sackur. the received political wisdom here is that economic issues pretty much decide elections, and that may be true in this midterm election year because of a dramatic spike in the cost of living. and yet, there is a sense here that right now, values and culture are at the centre of the political argument. my guest today is danica roem, a democrat and the first transgender person to take a seat in a state legislature. what does her story tell us about america s culture wars? danica roem, welcome to hardtalk. thank you so much. it s good to see you. it s great to have you on the show. now, when you won your election back in 2017 to become a state legislator in virginia. mm hm. ..you we
my guest today is danica roem, a democrat and the first transgender person to take a seat in a state legislature. what does her story tell us about america s culture wars? danica roem, welcome to hardtalk. thank you so much. it s good to see you. it s great to have you on the show. now, when you won your election back in 2017 to become a state legislator in virginia. mm hm. ..you were seen across america as a trailblazer. do you still feel like that trailblazer? well, so, here s the thing. i don t try to put, you know, that title to myself. when other people ascribe it to me, that s fine. that s their interpretation. myjob is to make sure that i m fixing route 28, that i m taking care of health insurance for my constituents and really taking care of those day to day basics. and, while i m doing that, if i m able to inspire other trans people to step up and run for office, great. and when i was sworn in to the virginia house of delegates onjanuary 10th, 2018, for my first of w
trans people to step up and run for office, great. and when i was sworn in to the virginia house of delegates onjanuary 10th, 2018, for my first of what s now three terms, you know, that day, i was the only out and seated trans state legislator in the country. and now, here we are, fast forward to 2022, now there s eight of us. take me back to early 2017 and being sworn in as the first transgender elected legislator to take a seat in a state legislature. yeah. so it was. so i was. so i kicked off my first campaign onjanuary 3rd, 2017, and 53 weeks later, onjanuary 10th, 2018, that s when i was sworn in to the house of delegates, and i had to win a four way democratic primary first in june of 2017. and then i took on a 13 term incumbent. he had been in office for 26 years since i was seven years old and he was the self described chief homophobe of virginia. and i want to stop you there
myjob is to make sure that i m fixing route 28, that i m taking care of health insurance for my constituents and really taking care of those day to day basics. and, while i m doing that, if i m able to inspire other trans people to step up and run for office, great. and when i was sworn in to the virginia house of delegates onjanuary 10th, 2018, for my first of what s now three terms, you know, that day, i was the only out and seated trans state legislator in the country. and now, here we are, fast forward to 2022, now there s eight of us. take me back to early 2017 and being sworn in as the first transgender elected legislator to take a seat in a state legislature. yeah. so it was. so i was. so i kicked off my first campaign onjanuary 3rd, 2017, and 53 weeks later, onjanuary 10th, 2018, that s when i was sworn in to the house of delegates, and i had to win a four way democratic primary first injune of 2017. and then i took on
to speak up about that and justify certain things. on december 16th, djokovic tested positive for covid, but only found out, he says, after mixing with young tennis players the following day. when he arrived in australia on january 5th, he was held at the border. 0njanuary 6th, his visa was cancelled and he was detained. four days later onjanuary 10th, a judge overturned that decision releasing him to compete. but four days after that, onjanuary 14th, australia s immigration minister again cancelled his visa on grounds of public safety. djokovic appealed, but lost, and left australia onjanuary 16th. i was never against vaccination. me, as an elite professional athlete, i ve always carefully reviewed, assessed everything that comes in from the supplements, food, the water that i drink,