Andrea Jenkins is retiring.The 64-year-old Chicago native was the first out Black and trans official ever elected to public office in the United States when she joined the Minneapolis City Council nine years ago. Related Trans councilwoman Andrea Jenkins explains Obama is the (2nd) coolest motherfker she ever met First and foremost, I identify as a poet and a writer, and being in this job didnt really allow me to focus as much time and energy as I wanted on my creative life, and so I wanted to get back to that while I still had some mental acuity and passion and abilities, she told Minneapolis Public Radio.While Jenkins made history for the trans community with her election in 2017, it was the same year she was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis. The degenerative nerve disease has taken a toll, she said. Insights for the LGBTQ+ community Subscribe to our briefing for insights into how politics impacts the LGBTQ+ community and more. Subscribe to our Newsletter today Since that time, there has been a visible decline in my mobility and my physical way of navigating and negotiating the world, she said.Shes hoping retirement will allow a return to her true identity.Jenkins came to the council after work with the University of Minnesota on a transgender oral history project, with the schools Jean-Nickolaus Tretter Collection in Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, and Transgender Studies.She attended UM as an undergrad and went on to earn two masters degrees: an MFA in creative writing from Hamline University and an MS in community economic development from Southern New Hampshire University.She was also a David Bohnett LGBTQ Victory Institute Leadership fellow at HarvardsJohn F. Kennedy School of Government. Jenkins shared the cover of Time magazine in January 2018 with several dozen other women who participated in the Womens March in Washington the year before and, like her, later ran for office.Jenkins described her time on the city council as tumultuous: her tenure coincided with the COVID pandemic and the upheaval following the murder of George Floyd in the ward she represents.That same level of chaos is gripping Minneapolis again after the deadly shooting of a queer woman protesting ICE detentions this week.Jenkins experienced another instance of what she called political violence in 2021, when a group of activists blocked her car for 90 minutes as she was exiting a Pride event in the city. They refused to let her leave until she agreed to sign a document with a list of demands, including supporting the resignation of Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey and establishing a police accountability commission.Jenkins said she was held hostage by the protesters. Certainly, I was not physically harmed in any way, but emotionally and psychologically Ive had a tumultuous time in office, particularly around race.Asked inan interview withLGBTQ Nationin 2023 if her election as the first Black and out trans official in U.S. history was a burden or a blessing, Jenkins, ever the poet, intoned it was a blessing and an honor. I think it really offers some hope and inspiration to the young people in a time when trans and gender non-conforming people are being unfairly targeted by political attacks that are trying to legislate trans and gender non-conforming people out of public life, she said, three years before many of those efforts came to pass.I think it is an inspiration to trans and genderqueer and gender non-conforming people who want to seek roles in public life, and particularly in elected roles.So, its an honor to be able to speak on behalf of my community, from a position of authority, from a platform that people will listen to. Its a deep honor.Subscribe to theLGBTQ Nation newsletterand be the first to know about the latest headlines shaping LGBTQ+ communities worldwide.