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Mayor Gainey Appoints Out Trans Latina Maria Montaño as Press Secretary, Unveils Letterhead With Pronouns
Pittsburgh Mayor Ed Gainey made a landmark announcement today, sharing that he has appointed Maria Montaño as his Press Secretary. Montaño is an experienced communications professional who brings a lot of talent and wisdom to the position. She also happens to identify as a proud trans, queer, Latinx woman.
Montaño is possibly the highest ranking Latinx and/or transgender woman to serve in a Mayoral Administration. There have been trans folx and Latinx folx in other departments, including serving as directors. But directing all communications for the Mayor’s office is a different type of visibility and access that we should celebrate. I think she is also the highest ranking trans woman in any City capacity. I will hopefully publish a Q&A with Montaño soon, building on our previous conversations to explore all these great ceiling smash moments.
Montaño is possibly the highest ranking Latinx and/or transgender woman to serve in a Mayoral Administration.
To all of my trans, ENBY, GNC, and queer readers in this region — you deserve to feel good about this news. You see yourselves, you’ll hear yourselves in this administration. And we can appreciate the sacrifice she’s making because there are a lot of people who won’t be…
