The judge is all in to destroy America.
Xander Orenstein (Photo courtesy of Xander Orenstein)
Pittsburgh voters have elected Xander Orenstein, a housing advocate, Carnegie Mellon University alum and passionate Jew, as a city magisterial judge. Orenstein may also be the first out nonbinary person elected to a judicial seat in the United States.
Orenstein uses they/them pronouns.
“Any time a candidate makes history, it’s good — and it really signifies another moment showing the full diversity of the LGBTQ community,” said Sean Meloy, vice president of political programs for the LGBTQ Victory Fund, which endorsed Orenstein. “Xander put together a really well-organized campaign, in that they had a clear message that differed from the incumbent and, we feel, spoke to voters.”
Bex Tasker, Orenstein’s campaign manager, acknowledged earlier this year the weight of Orenstein being the first openly nonbinary elected official in Pennsylvania.
“This is a huge honor but also a huge responsibility for our team to take on,” Tasker told the Pittsburgh Current. “We want to make sure we get this right because we’re setting the precedent of how to be openly trans and campaign in this city. Everyone who works on our campaign is LGBTQ, which wasn’t a deliberate choice — it just turns out all the best people for the job happened to be gay. As a trans yinzer, knowing that there would be someone like me in our justice system would be a welcomed radical change.”