Vermont gubernatorial candidate Christine Hallquist is paving the way for transgender politicians.

After coming out about who she truly was, Hallquist worried that she would be ostracized and potentially even end up homeless. But she says that Vermont welcomed her with open arms.

However, she says that she’s experiencing gender politics from an entirely different perspective.

“Transitioning from man to woman, you know, I understood theoretically about the gender hierarchy, but to experience it firsthand personally is a different thing,” she explained. “The harshness of men to women — it’s happening to me as a transgender — but it’s the same language that’s used with women.”

Hallquist is an advocate for more women in power and believes they are poised to be the country’s most effective leaders.

“I try to avoid the gender stereotypes, but women know how to do collaborative leadership,” she said. “Gender is a social construct, and when you think about why we’ve designed men the way they are, I think we’ve designed men for war. But it’s not a good design for getting the best out of people.”

She is also an advocate for climate change initiatives, education, and universal health care.

“I can’t solve climate change without addressing economic justice issues,” she said. “We gotta make sure we’ve got improved Medicare for all and we need to have a solid education system and we need to really grow people into a living wage.”

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