Italy elects its first transgender mayor

MILAN – Their general allegiances may lie with Matteo Salvini’s right-wing League party, but voters in a small town south of Milan have voted against the right-wing League candidate to elect Italy’s first transgender mayor.

Gianmarco Negri, a 40-year-old lawyer, was elected mayor of Tromello, a town of 3,700, with 37.5% of Sunday’s vote for his left-wing civic list. He handily defeated the League’s candidate, who finished second in the four-way race with 26%.

The victory is especially striking, given that in the European Parliamentary vote at the same time, 53% of the votes went for Salvini’s League and just 16% to the centre-left Democratic Party.

Negri, an activist for transgender rights, ran under the slogan: “CambiaMenti per Tromello,” which has a double meaning of “Changes for Tromello,” or “Changing Minds for Tromello.”