Virginia Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears speaks at CPAC in 2023. (Washington Blade photo by Michael Key)
Virginia Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears on Feb. 26 misgendered state Sen. Danica Roem (D-Manassas) on the Virginia Senate floor.
WVTF Richmond Bureau Chief Brad Kutner in an X post said Earle-Sears, who is a Republican, referred to Roem, who is a transgender woman, as “sir” during a debate on House Bill 964, which would allow attorneys to serve as the executive director of the Virginia Board of Medicine.
Kutner said the Senate went “recess twice after reportedly ‘Sears refused to apologize.’”
“I’m not here to upset anyone, I’m here to do the job the people of Virginia have called me to do,” Earle-Sears later said, according to Kutner.
Roem in 2018 became the first trans person seated in a state legislature in the country when she assumed her seat in the Virginia House of Delegates.
Voters in the 30th Senate District last November elected her to the Senate. Roem is the first trans person seated in the chamber.
The Washington Blade reached out to Roem, but she declined comment.
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