Faculty Profile: Marisa Richmond

 

Marisa currently teaches in the Department of History and Women's and Gender Studies Program at Middle Tennessee State University.   She has her A.B. from Harvard University, her M.A. from the University of California, Berkeley, and her Ph.D. from George Washington University, all in U.S. History. 

Marisa has served many years as the Lobbyist for the Tennessee Transgender Political Coalition, and was recently named to the Metro Human Relations Commission

In 2008, she became the first openly transgender person to win an election in Tennessee when she was elected to the Davidson County Democratic Party (DCDP) Executive Committee. She currently serves as a Vice Chair of DCDP. Also in 2008, she became the first African American, transgender person to serve as a delegate to the Democratic National Convention from any state.  She served as a Tennessee delegate again in 2012 along with serving as a member of the Steering Committee of Trans United for Obama.

In 2013, she became the President of the Davidson County Democratic Women (DCDW), and currently serves on the Board as Past President.  She was also the DCDW nominee for the ATHENA Award in 2012.

She has been a regular panelist on Out & About Today on News Channel 5+ in Nashville since April 2006, and has written prolifically on transgender rights for several local and national publications.

In February 2008, she became a columnist for Triangle Journal News in Memphis.  Previously, she was a columnist for Out & About Nashville from August 2004 to December 2005 and the author of "Casa Marisa" a monthly column in Transgender Community News from July 1999 to August 2004.

 

She is a former Board Member of the Tennessee Vals in Nashville, and has also served on the Boards of American Educational Gender Information Service (Board Chair from 1996 to 1999, making her the first African American to head a national LGBT organization), the International Foundation for Gender Education (IFGE), National Transgender Advocacy Coalition, Tennessee Equality Project, Nashville's Rainbow Community Center, the National Center for Transgender Equality, the Trans Advocacy Network, and the Gay, Lesbian, Straight, Educational Network of Middle Tennessee. In 2006, she served as the Statewide Field Coordinator for the Vote No on 1 Campaign, opposing the Tennessee Marriage Discrimination Amendment.  She also served on the Sexual Violence Prevention Planning Committee of the Tennessee Department of Health.

 

She also served as the Co-Chair of Southern Comfort Conference in 2001, chaired the host committee for the 2002 IFGE Convention in Nashville, and in 2004, she served on the planning committee for Nashville Black Pride. 

 

She was listed in Who's Who among Black Americans, and received numerous awards for her service including the first Lifetime Achievement Award from the Tennessee Vals in 2000, the IFGE Trinity Award for contributions to the Transgender Community in 2002, Vagina Warrior by Vanderbilt University's Project Safe in 2005, the Equality Award from the Human Rights Campaign in 2007, the Chairwoman's ICON Award from Baltimore Black Pride in 2008, the Community Award from Nashville Black Pride in 2009, Autumn Honors from Nashville's OutCentral in 2013, and the Civic Advocacy Award from MT Lambda, Woman of the Year Award from UNITE Magazine, the Mark Lee Taylor Community Service Award from the Nashville LGBT Chamber of Commerce, and Outstanding Service to Forward Human Rights from Tennessee United for Human Rights, all in 2015, and Julie Johnson Founders Award from the National Center for Transgender Equality in 2016.

 

In 2013, she was named to the inaugural Trans 100 list of notable transgender activists and leaders around the country, and was featured in the Nashville Scene's "People of Nashville" issue in March 2015. 

 

She also served as the Grand Marshal for the Coming Out Day Parade in Knoxville in 2005, and Mid South Pride in Memphis in 2011.