Senator Ed Murray, D-Seattle, was elected as majority leader of Washington State Senate Tuesday, according to The Advocate. This makes Murray, 57, the second openly gay U.S. senator ever to lead a state senate.
The first lawmaker to lead a state senate was Minnesota's Allan Spear who served as president of the state's senate from 1992 to 2000.
Today, Murray is "the highest ranking openly gay lawmaker in the state," according to The Seattle Times and currently the only gay state Majority Leader in the U.S. Senate.
However, there are more LGBT leaders amongst House lawmakers, according to the Advocate:
"Current LGBT leaders of state houses or assemblies are California Assembly speaker John Perez, Rhode Island House speaker Gordon D. Fox, and incoming Colorado House speaker Mark Ferrandino. Rep. Tina Kotek, a lesbian, is expected to be elected speaker of the Oregon House this week."
Murray has served 11 years in the Washington House of Representatives and has been on the senate since 2006, according to Gay Politics. He was also a leading advocate of the state's marriage equality bill which voters approved last week.
According to The Seattle Times, Murray will be replacing retiring Senate Majority Leader Lisa Brown, D-Spokane.