Indian-American Attorney Janani Ramachandran Becomes First Qeer Woman Of Colour US City Council Member

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She became the first queer woman of colour and the youngest one to take oath in the US State of California as the Oakland City Council member.

A 30-year-old Indian-American, Janani Ramachandran wore a saree at the inauguration ceremony on 10 January while taking oath as the Oakland City Council member for District 4, mentions a report by PTI.

Queer is an umbrella term for people who are not heterosexual or cisgender. Also, it can simply mean 'not straight.' For, identity or orientation doesn't need to align with the expectation that everyone's automatically heterosexual and heteroromantic.

The public interest attorney took it to Twitter to share the news and express gratitude. It said, 'WE WON! Honored to be the next City Councilmember for Oakland District 4!! I will officially be the youngest Council member in Oakland's history, the 1st #LGBTQ woman of colour & 1st South Asian to serve on Oakland City Council.'

She also mentioned, 'Immensely grateful for all those who believed in me and helped build our movement. Honoured to have my loved ones by my side as I took the ceremonial oath!'

A daughter of immigrants from a small village in South India, Ramachandran currently serves on the California Commission on Asian and Pacific Islander American Affairs.

According to the official bio on her website, Ramachandran is a flagbearer of justice from a very early age. When she was just 16, she founded a nonprofit that built libraries for under-resourced schools in her local community.

A pass-out from Stanford University and the University of California, Berkeley, she has worked closely with numerous legal non-profit organisations. She has also worked as a home-visiting case manager at a community health clinic, where she helped immigrant mothers who were homeless and experiencing domestic violence.

Recently, Ramachandran has worked as an attorney at Family Violence Appellate Project, to improve the access to justice for all abuse survivors. Also, she has previously served as a Commissioner at the City of Oakland Public Ethics Commission.