Turner, who uses both they/them and she/her pronouns, grew up in Ardmore, a city of 25,000 people that sits smack in between Oklahoma City to the north and Dallas to the south.
Turner hopes their election victory and presence in the Legislature will help LGBTQ people in Oklahoma and beyond see themselves reflected and represented.
"I'm still reading so many messages from folks around the world that are just happy to have some sort of representation," said Turner, whose district represents central Oklahoma City.
Former Houston Mayor Annise Parker, CEO of the LGBTQ Victory Fund, a national organization that trains and advocates for LGBTQ political candidates, called Turner a "trailblazer," saying, "Their courage to run openly will inspire more nonbinary people to pursue careers in elected office.".
"Of all the states to achieve a milestone political moment for nonbinary people, few would have thought it would be Oklahoma, where there are so few LGBTQ elected officials," Parker said in a statement.
"Right now in Oklahoma, we've got mothers sitting in prison for 30-plus years because they wrote bad checks to be able to provide food for their families," Turner said
Another more local issue Turner is focused on in District 88 — one of the most liberal districts in deep red Oklahoma — is power lines
Turner noted that power lines are underground in many more affluent districts but not in District 88, which Turner said is unacceptable
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