Simone Bell is a

community organizer Community organizing is a process where people who live in proximity to each other or share some common problem come together into an organization that acts in their shared self-interest. Unlike those who promote more-consensual community bui ...

and former politician from

Atlanta, Georgia Atlanta ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the seat of Fulton County, the most populous county in Georgia, but its territory falls in both Fulton and DeKalb counties. With a population of 498,715 ...

. A

Democrat Democrat, Democrats, or Democratic may refer to: Politics *A proponent of democracy, or democratic government; a form of government involving rule by the people. *A member of a Democratic Party: **Democratic Party (United States) (D) **Democratic ...

, she was elected to the

Georgia House of Representatives The Georgia House of Representatives is the lower house of the Georgia General Assembly (the state legislature) of the U.S. state of Georgia. There are currently 180 elected members. Republicans have had a majority in the chamber since 2005. T ...

in December 2009 from the state's 58th district in

DeKalb DeKalb or De Kalb may refer to: People * Baron Johann de Kalb (1721–1780), major general in the American Revolutionary War Places Municipalities in the United States * DeKalb, Illinois, the largest city in the United States named DeKalb **DeKal ...

and

Fulton Fulton may refer to: People * Robert Fulton (1765–1815), American engineer and inventor who developed the first commercially successful steam-powered ship * Fulton (surname) Given name * Fulton Allem (born 1957), South African golfer * Fult ...

counties, and served until November 2015. The district lies in eastern Atlanta and includes the following neighborhoods:

East Atlanta East Atlanta is a neighborhood on the east side of Atlanta, Georgia, United States The name East Atlanta Village primarily refers to the neighborhood's commercial district. Geography East Atlanta lies entirely within DeKalb County and is bounde ...

, Cabbagetown,

Reynoldstown Reynoldstown is a historic district and intown neighborhood on the near east side of Atlanta, Georgia, located two miles from downtown. The neighborhood is gentrifying and attracting new families, empty-nesters, Atlantans opposed to long com ...

Edgewood Edgewood may refer to: Places Canada *Edgewood, British Columbia South Africa *Edgewood, a University of KwaZulu-Natal campus in Pinetown, South Africa United States Cities and towns *Edgewood, California *Edgewood, Florida *Edgewood, Illinois, a ...

, Gresham Park, Grant Park, Kirkwood,

Ormewood Park Ormewood Park is a neighborhood on the east side of Atlanta, Georgia, United States. History This area was the territory of the Creek Indian Nation until approximately 1825 when the Treaty of Indian Springs was signed under Governor George Troup. ...

and

Boulevard Heights Boulevard Heights is an urban neighborhood of Atlanta, Georgia located south of United Ave, east of Boulevard A boulevard is a type of broad avenue planted with rows of trees, or in parts of North America, any urban highway. Boulevards we ...

. The seat had been held by Rep. Robbin Shipp (D–Atlanta) from 2007 to 2009 but Shipp resigned in 2009 due to conflicts with her job as a Fulton County prosecutor, triggering a special election. In the election held on November 3, 2009, Bell won 24% of the vote in a five-candidate field, placing second behind attorney and fellow Democrat Asha Jackson. In the runoff, Bell defeated Jackson by 56% to 44%. She was sworn into office by Chief Justice Carol Hunstein of the Georgia Supreme Court on December 22, 2009. She ran unopposed for re-election in 2010; defeated primary opponent Ralph Long in 2012 and 2014. On October 29, 2015, Bell announced her resignation from office to join

Lambda Legal Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund, better known as Lambda Legal, is an American civil rights organization that focuses on lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) communities as well as people living with HIV/ AIDS ( PWAs) through i ...

as Southern Regional Director; her resignation took effect November 13, 2015. She was succeeded by Park Cannon. Born and raised in

Detroit Detroit ( , ; , ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is also the largest U.S. city on the United States–Canada border, and the seat of government of Wayne County. The City of Detroit had a population of 639,111 at th ...

Michigan Michigan () is a state in the Great Lakes region of the upper Midwestern United States. With a population of nearly 10.12 million and an area of nearly , Michigan is the 10th-largest state by population, the 11th-largest by area, and the ...

, Bell came to Georgia to attend

Agnes Scott College Agnes Scott College is a private women's liberal arts college in Decatur, Georgia. The college enrolls approximately 1,000 undergraduate and graduate students. The college is affiliated with the Presbyterian Church and is considered one of the ...

in Decatur. She works in the Southern regional office of

, a national non-profit legal group that focuses on

LGBT ' is an initialism that stands for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender. In use since the 1990s, the initialism, as well as some of its common variants, functions as an umbrella term for sexuality and gender identity. The LGBT term is a ...

and

HIV The human immunodeficiency viruses (HIV) are two species of ''Lentivirus'' (a subgroup of retrovirus) that infect humans. Over time, they cause acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS), a condition in which progressive failure of the immune ...

issues. Openly

gay ''Gay'' is a term that primarily refers to a homosexual person or the trait of being homosexual. The term originally meant 'carefree', 'cheerful', or 'bright and showy'. While scant usage referring to male homosexuality dates to the late 1 ...

, Bell is the first African-American lesbian to serve in a U.S. state legislature. Her partner is Valerie Acree.

References

External links

Legislative homepageCampaign and constituency website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bell, Simone African-American state legislators in Georgia (U.S. state) African-American women in politics Agnes Scott College people American community activists African-American LGBT people American lesbian politicians LGBT state legislators in Georgia (U.S. state) Living people Politicians from Detroit Democratic Party members of the Georgia House of Representatives Women state legislators in Georgia (U.S. state) LGBT people from Michigan 21st-century American LGBT people 21st-century American women politicians Year of birth missing (living people) 21st-century African-American women 21st-century African-American politicians 21st-century American legislators

See also

References

External links