Draft:Rebecca Blankenship

Rebecca Blankenship is an elected official for the Berea Independent School District's board of education and was the first transgender person elected to public office in Kentucky. She also is the director of Ban Conversion Therapy Kentucky.

Biography
Rebecca Blankenship grew up in Benton, Kentucky where she graduated from Marshall County High School. She then attended Transylvania University, where at 19 years old, she became the first openly transgender student in the college's history. After a break in her studies, Blankenship graduated from Transylvania University in 2019 with a riple major in Philosophy, Political Science, and Economics and an English minor.

At Transylvania University, Blankenship won the 2019 Judy Gaines Young Student Writing Award, which was also awarded to Silas House. She was the news editor for Transylvania University's student newspaper, The Rambler, and went on to work for "Eastern Standard," a radio magazine discussing events in Central and Eastern Kentucky for WEKU, hosted by Peabody Award winning anchor, Tom Martin.

Berea Independent School District Election
On January 4th, 2023, Blankenship was elected as a member of the Berea Independent School District's Board of Education, making her the first openly transgender person ever elected into public office in Kentucky. She ran for the board as a write-in candidate for an unfilled position. Blankenship campaigned on issues including teacher pay, vocational education, communication and transparency.

Ban conversion therapy Kentucky
Rebecca Blankenship serves as the director of Ban Conversion Therapy Kentucky, a nonpartisan movement, founded in 2017, that serves to protect youth from the dangers associated with conversion therapy. Blankenship has campaigned against conversion therapy in the Kentucky in several legislative sessions and was at the forefront of the efforts against the "slate of hate" in the 2023 Kentucky Legislative Session's General Assembly.