Right after President Biden signed the Respect for Marriage Act into law last week, Vermont’s first openly transgender state legislator, State Rep. Taylor Small, and her partner, Carsen Russell, both attendees of the signing ceremony, officially became engaged on The White House lawn.
Reports NBC News:
As the event was wrapping up, Russell said he asked Small if she wanted to take a photo. Then he got down on one knee. “I was just like, ‘I want to spend my life with you, and will you marry me?’” Russell told NBC News on Friday in a joint interview with Small.
Small recalled saying yes “immediately.”
“I swear I could not have taken my glove off fast enough,” she said, after announcing the news on Twitter. “It was really just the perfect backdrop and the perfect moment for that celebration.”
Small, who was elected to the Vermont House of Representatives in 2020 and re-elected in November, said it was a “full-circle” moment for the couple, who met in Vermont’s capital, Montpelier, in December 2017 at a drag show.
Before going into politics, Small was a local drag performer who went by the stage name Nikki Champagne. She said she and her drag partner wanted to do more performances outside of Burlington so that queer and trans people in more rural areas of Vermont could see “thriving community members.”
After a performance in Montpelier, Small said, Russell came up to take a photo with her. Then, the next day, “in true millennial fashion, he slid into the DMs,” or direct messages, on social media. After chatting, she invited him to a New Queer’s Eve event to celebrate the New Year.
Russell moved away for work after that, but they stayed in touch until a year later, when he came to the New Queer’s Eve event again, and they “rekindled the flame,” Small said. They made the relationship official in March 2019, and Russell moved back to Vermont.
The two say that their relationship is grounded in safety, communication and laughter.
When asked what he enjoys about Small and their relationship, Russell said, “Wow, I don’t even know where to begin.”
Rep. Small was recently reelected in the November Midterm Elections to serve a second term.
Read the complete NBC News story here.
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