Estefania Cortes-Vargas
Estefania Cortes-Vargas is a Colombian-born Canadian politician and non-profit administrator who was elected in the 2015 Alberta general election to the Legislative Assembly of Alberta, representing the electoral district of Strathcona-Sherwood Park as a member of the Alberta New Democratic Party. Upon election they became one of the first three out LGBT people elected to the Alberta legislature, alongside caucus colleagues Michael Connolly and Ricardo Miranda.
Although Cortes-Vargas was represented in media coverage during the election campaign as female and lesbian, in December 2015 they formally came out as non-binary in the legislature during debate on the inclusion of transgender rights in the provincial human rights code. While the provincial Hansard normally reports members' speeches under the gender honorifics "Mr." or "Ms.", Cortes-Vargas is recorded as "Member Cortes-Vargas". Cortes-Vargas chose not to run in the 2019 Alberta general election.
In 2019 Cortes-Vargas was named executive director of the Pride Centre of Edmonton.Electoral history
