Two transgender women won seats in Germany’s parliament — part of a small but growing group around world

In Asia, transgender political representation is similarly rare and largely local. In India, there have been many openly transgender mayors. There are also Thai lawmakers and Japan council members. In the mostly Roman Catholic Philippines, Geraldine Roman, an outspoken member of the transgender community, was elected to Congress in 2016. Roman supported legislation that would ban discrimination against people based on their sexual orientation or gender identity. The proposal has languished in Congress for more than two decades.