Transgender candidate on ballot in Michigan with both male and female names

From: Grand Rapids Press

Gidget Groendyk, formerly named Scott Wade Langford, is on the ballot for township supervisor.

 A woman who used to be a man is the first person to get on the ballot for the township supervisor race in this rural community north of Grand Rapids.

Gidget Groendyk, who changed her name four years ago from Scott Wade Langford, wants the township to enact a non-discrimination ordinance with protections for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender residents.

The ballot will note that Groendyk was "formerly Scott Wade Langford."

"I want to go out and promote more human rights within the ordinance," said Groendyk, 44, who owns a hair salon in Sparta. "There is no LGBT protective ordinance whatsoever in the township. That's the biggest thing I'm going to be pushing for, for Sparta."

Candidates on their affidavit of identity are asked to disclose previous names if they have changed their name within the past 10 years for a reason other than marriage.

Groendyk initially filed a ballot petition using the first name Scott, but county elections administrators rejected that because it's not her legal name.

"First of all, I asked him whether he wanted to be called Scott or Gidget," said Dale Bergman, Sparta's supervisor for the past 20 years, who plans to run for a sixth term. "I've known his family, or her family, for years."

Several Michigan municipalities have enacted local ordinances regarding discrimination based on sexual orientation. State law does not provide housing or employment protections for LGBT residents.

Bergman said he'd be open to LGBT protections because "we don't want to be discriminatory in any way to anybody." He met with Groendyk and suggested a campaign for trustee instead.

"I've known the family and, really, Scott for a long time," Bergman said about Groendyk's candidacy. "Last time I talked with him he talked about running for trustee rather than supervisor. I was a trustee five years before becoming supervisor. I just told him it'd be very helpful for you to run for trustee first."

The deadline to get on the ballot for August primary elections is April 19.