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Decorated Army Veteran Alleria Stanley Runs for Maryland House of Delegates in Conservative District
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Alleria Stanley's journey to political candidacy is rooted in nearly two decades of distinguished military service. Stanley served as a Staff Sergeant in the United States Army, completing 20 years of active duty with an honorable discharge and full retirement. During her military career, Stanley worked as a radiology technologist and deployed to Afghanistan as an Apache helicopter repairer in 2005.
What makes Stanley's military career particularly significant is that she is one of a rare group of transgender soldiers who fully transitioned while on active duty and completed their service with an honorable discharge and full retirement. For much of her early service, Stanley served in silence, as open transgender service in the military was not permitted. "We were forced to ask ourselves whether we wanted to deny who we were and serve, in the hopes that one day it would change, or whether we should wait to serve entirely until it did change," Stanley reflected on that period.
The landscape changed for Stanley when former Secretary of Defense Ash Carter opened military service to transgender individuals in 2016. This policy shift allowed Stanley to serve openly and authentically for the remainder of her military career. Speaking about the impact of living openly, Stanley stated: "Being one's authentic self is incredibly empowering and uplifting affecting parts of your life that are unrelated to being transgender. One of the stronger memories I have since serving openly and living authentically is the scores of people who have come up to me to either come out themselves, to share a story of someone they know, or to ask for advice on how to approach a relationship they have with LGBTQ+ friends and family."
Following her military retirement, Stanley transitioned into advocacy and community leadership roles. She has served as a motivational speaker and passionate LGBTQ+ advocate, leveraging her unique perspective as a decorated transgender veteran. Stanley's commitment to inclusive community building led to her appointment to the Board of Directors at Mission Belonging, an organization dedicated to championing inclusive art and community empowerment.
In 2025, Stanley decided to expand her service by entering electoral politics. She filed as a Democratic candidate for the Maryland House of Delegates in Legislative District 4, which encompasses parts of Frederick County. Her filing date was recorded as September 9, 2025.
Legislative District 4 is a notably conservative area, making Stanley's candidacy particularly significant. The district includes portions of Frederick County, a region that has historically leaned Republican in state and federal elections. Running in such a district as an openly transgender candidate represents a bold step toward increasing LGBTQ+ representation in conservative-leaning areas of Maryland.
When discussing her decision to run for office, Stanley emphasized her commitment to public service. "I signed up to serve, and I will do so here again," she told The Advocate in an interview. This statement reflects Stanley's continuity of purpose—her willingness to serve that defined her military career now extends to state-level politics.
Stanley's candidacy carries considerable symbolic and practical importance for LGBTQ+ political representation in Maryland and beyond. Transgender candidates remain underrepresented in electoral politics at all levels of government. By running in a conservative district, Stanley is challenging assumptions about where LGBTQ+ candidates can be competitive and viable.
Her background as a decorated military veteran also provides a powerful counternarrative to stereotypes and misconceptions about transgender people. Stanley's two decades of honorable service, her work as a radiology technologist, and her deployments in combat zones demonstrate the contributions transgender individuals make to national security and public service.
As Stanley pursues elected office, she continues to embody the principles that guided her military service: dedication, authenticity, and commitment to serving others. Her candidacy invites voters in Legislative District 4 to consider what representation means and whether lived experience as a transgender person, combined with a track record of public service, should factor into their electoral decisions.
Stanley's journey from serving in silence to serving openly in the military, and now seeking to serve in elected office, represents a significant evolution in LGBTQ+ political participation. Whether she wins her primary race or not, her candidacy has already contributed to expanding the conversation about who can run for office and what diverse backgrounds and identities should be represented in state legislatures.
