Cambridge City
Council Elects Nation's First Black Lesbian Mayor

The city council of Cambridge, Mass., voted unanimously this week to elect the nation's first openly lesbian black mayor, according to a story in The Cambridge Chronicle. Denise Simmons, a member of the council since 2001, will succeed Ken Reeves, who is also black and gay.

Simmons's election marks "another broken glass ceiling," said Chuck Wolfe, president and CEO of the Victory Fund, a group that supports and endorses LGBT political candidates.

"We are enormously proud of Mayor Simmons," Wolfe said in a press release. "Like Mayor Ken Reeves before her, she is among our community's trailblazers."

Monday's unanimous vote followed a week of deadlock among council members. Simmons, who also served as a member of the city's school committee from 1992 to 2001, garnered support from only two of her colleagues during the first vote, held the previous Monday.

Cambridge mayors are chosen by their peers on the city council. (The Advocate)