Topeka resident Stephanie Mott is executive director of the Kansas Statewide Transgender Education Project (K-STEP) and chairperson of the Kansas Equality Coalition.

She is also a transsexual woman.

Mott was in Hays Sunday at the invitation of the Open Roads LGBT Community Center to talk about what it means to be transgendered.

“Transgender is when someone identifies inside as the gender not associated with their biological birth sex enough that they need express that in some fashion”, she explained.

Last week in Lawrence at the University of Kansas, Mott received the Emily Taylor Center for Women and Gender Equity “Pioneer Woman” award for her contributions to Kansas as an activist and advocate for the rights of lesbian, gay,bi-sexual and transgendered people. 

She’s in good company. Former Kansas Governor Kathleen Sebelius, now the U-S Health and Human Services Secretary, and famed Kansas aviator Amelia Earhart, have also been honored with the “Pioneer Woman” award.