Keagan Roberts has captured national attention for winning a seat on the city council of South Berwick, Maine, population 7,500. The reason: Roberts is only 19, making him one of the youngest elected officials in the United States. He also happens to be gay.
“I hope that it doesn’t matter how young you are, it doesn’t matter how you identify, you can do whatever you put your mind to,” he said of his victory to Out magazine. Roberts won election earlier in November and took his seat on the council last week.
Roberts chose to seek political office after growing up with the charms of his small town. Amazingly, he also claims that he didn’t experience much homophobia when he came out in school or around town.
Related: This man hopes to become the first openly gay person elected to the Georgia State Senate
“I really didn’t face too much bullying, at least to my face, which was nice,” he recalls. “I also have a twin brother who’s gay, so that kind of made high school a little bit easier. It’s amazing. I wouldn’t trade it for the world.”
Roberts missed the deadline to have his name on the ballot, so instead, he camped outside the polls on election day and staged a write-in candidacy. He ended up receiving more than 20% of the vote–more than any other candidate.
“There’s a whole demographic that not really being completely spoken for because you don’t really have anyone [my] age speaking,” Roberts said of his decision to run. He hopes to give back to his community through his newly acquired position, and joins a growing number of queer Americans seeking or holding political office ahead of the 2020 election.
PLAYS WELL WITH OTHERS
Camped out seeking votes cause he couldn’t get on the ballot. Kid must be a charmer to get so many people to suddenly vote for him seconds before they were about to vote.,
Good on Ginger! :-p
sportstar2600
Or they were so disgusted by the other candidates, they were glad to have an energetic, young alternative.
ingyaom
It shouldn’t matter how young you are or how you identify … but it should matter if you’re organized enough to register in time to get yourself on the ballot.
Terrycloth
All I saw was the photo first .I thought he was a girl until I saw the semi beard..I thought he looks like a girl transitioning to a boy ..
rray63
There is one other option, it could be a community of 7500 vegetables? Just sayin’….lol
nitejonboy
Cute ginger gay boy with gay twin brother….how do I get to this town ?? This is my porn fantasy..kidding, congrats to him, very admirable, hope he does well…I’m still looking him up though,lol.
Thad
Good for Keegan! South Berwick is a sweet small rural Southern Maine town…not far from gay-popular Ogunquit, so presumably they aren’t very homophobic.
Garth
Love the look . All the best in your political future .