The Georgia Supreme Court upheld a lower court’s ruling that refused to set aside a Clayton County election in which two unsuccessful candidates alleged a variety of improprieties, including that transgender Riverdale City Council candidate Michelle Bruce defrauded voters by representing her gender as female.
Justice Hugh Thompson wrote the unanimous ruling, released Oct. 6.
“[This] is a great day for LGBT communities throughout Georgia and around the country,” Bruce said in a statement.
“It is also a great day for people who support civil and human rights for all citizens. This lawsuit was meant only to discredit me in the eyes of the voters. The Supreme Court ruling will set a precedent to stop anything like this from happening to other transgender people who choose to run for public office,” she added.
Georgia Randall Fuller challenged Bruce in her bid for re-election to the Riverdale City Council. Stan Harris ran against another Riverdale City Council member. But the losing candidates who sued Riverdale City Clerk Stephanie Thomas “failed to produce evidence of fraud, misconduct or illegality,” according to a press release from the court.
Fuller and Harris raised multiple complaints about how the election was handled. Their concerns included claims of problems with absentee ballots, alleged improper campaigning by another candidate, whether the city appointed election officials correctly, and that Bruce was actually a man and lied to voters by presenting herself as a woman.
They identified her in the lawsuit as “Michael.” The two made the claims despite the fact Bruce had already served a four-year term on the Riverdale City Council as a woman.
“None of these alleged irregularities is specific enough to cast doubt on the results of the election,” the Georgia Supreme Court ruled.
Georgia Equality Executive Director Jeff Graham said the ruling is critical.
“If she had lost I think it would have sent a chilling effect out to transgender people seeking public office,” Graham said. “When this case came out, when it was first filed, that was the fear.”
Cole Thaler is the national transgender rights attorney for Lambda Legal. Although Lambda wasn’t involved in the case, he sees it sending a strong signal to those hoping to oppose transgender politicians through the courts.
“The effect from the trial level court and the Georgia Supreme Court both ruling there was no fraud, is a chilling effect on people who would try to intimidate transgender candidates,” said Thaler, who works in Lambda Legal’s Atlanta office.
The City of Riverdale provided legal counsel for Bruce. City Manager Iris Jessie said the city is happy to close the case.
“The only statement that we would have about the lawsuit is that we are very happy to have the dispute settled,” Jessie said.
In the Nov. 6, 2007, election, Bruce placed first in a field of four candidates that included Fuller. Bruce won 41 percent of the vote, but did not garner the required 50 percent plus one for an outright win and was forced into the runoff against Wayne Hall.
Harris also lost in a separate race, and Fuller and Harris filed the lawsuit against Thomas asking the city clerk to find the November election invalid and to delay the Dec. 4 runoff. A trial court refused.
Attorney Michael King, who worked on Fuller’s campaign to defeat Bruce in Ward 2 and represented Fuller and Harris in court, said that by identifying as female, Bruce deceived female voters into voting for her and gave her an unfair advantage at the polls.
Bruce eventually lost to Hall in the runoff on Dec. 4, 2007, by 223 votes to 308 votes. At the time, Bruce said she believed the lawsuit played a role in her defeat.
Matt Schafer contributed to this article.
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I'm proud of the great strides being made at the local and regional level by transgendered individuals, right here in our own state.
