Bisexual Wisconsin State Representative JoCasta Zamarripa Wins Primary

4:28 pm - Tue, Sep 4, 2012: 46 notes

Bisexual Wisconsin State Representative JoCasta Zamarripa Wins Primary

Wisconsin State Representative JoCasta Zamarripa, a Latina of Mexican-American descent has joined a growing list of out bisexual-identified LGBTQ politicians when she came out in an interview with Georgia Pabst in her “Latino Connection” blog in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.

JoCasta Zamarripa defeated challenger Laura Manriquez in the Democratic primary on August 14, 2012 by 66.7% to 33.3%. No Republican has filed to run for this seat for the general election which takes place on 6 November 2012, so it seems all but certain that Representative Zamarripa will go on to fill a 2nd term.

State Rep. Zamarripa (known to her friends as Joey) was born and raised on the south side of Milwaukee. In fact, she continues to live in the house that has been owned by her grandmother for over 30 years. She is a graduate of St. Joan Antida High School and holds a BFA from UW-Milwaukee.

She was 1st elected to the Wisconsin State Assembly in 2010 from the 8th Assembly District a a densely Hispanic area on on Milwaukee’s south side, where she succeed Pedro Colón, who is now a Milwaukee County Circuit Court judge. Prior to her election Zamarripa worked as a Community Outreach Coordinator for Planned Parenthood of Wisconsin. She served as Board Secretary for 9 to 5 Milwaukee and was a Board Member for Equality Wisconsin. She is also an Obama delegate at the 2012 Democratic National Convention in Charlotte NC where she will join a record-setting 534 LGBT participants.