A Conversation with Seven Siegel

Seven

Conversation with Seven Siegel

By Emily Connelly

Seven Siegel is a chatty and cheery conversationalist with many thoughts on representing small towns and communities in Maine. I spoke with Seven recently to learn more about their work on the Gorham town council, hear a bit about their goals for the State House, and learn about their surprising but delightful creative outlet—breakdancing!

“I’ve moved around a lot in my life, and I never really had a very solid community that I could call my own. And then, I met my now wife who is Maine born and raised and, and I was like, well I’m moving to Maine!” they laughed. They explained that when they were looking for a home, they had something very specific in mind. “We wanted a place we could turn into a community center. And we found this amazing house on Main St. here in Gorham. It’s an old farm house and the long term goal is to turn the carriage house into a community center.”

After settling into life in Gorham, they wanted a way to give back to their new community. They discovered a great opportunity! “I started by applying for the planning board, and joining the planning board. And then I learned a couple of people weren’t seeking reelection on the council. I’m thinking about how a lot of the changes that happen at the town level are really slow, forward-thinking things. So they’re going to impact the next 50 years of Gorham. And since I’m going to be here, I want to make sure that we’re putting our ship in the right direction.” When talking about their experience being trans and working on town council, they’ve seen positive shifts toward gender neutral language. They’ve also learned a bit about the importance of trans representation in local government, from community members sharing stories about what it means seeing them in that role. But, they said, “representation is important, but only one level of social change.”

Seven’s work on the town council includes plenty of meetings, but they said “I’ve really been learning this job is as big as you want it to be. There’s the official capacity of the role, which is showing up to meetings and making votes, putting motions on the agenda. And then there is more that can be done.” What is Seven working on these days? Aside from helping to kick off Gorham’s first pride last year, they’re also focused on a trail expansion project. “One of the big things I’m trying to make happen is extend our cross-town trail into Westbrook so that you can easily bike or walk into Westbrook. That would get you from Gorham’s downtown into Westbrook’s riverfront, not on the road. And that is just completely not an official responsibility!” 

“I’ve been really amazed lately, at realizing the power that I have as a councilor to empower others, getting people going or saying, ‘hey if you want to make this change I can help, or bring it officially to the council’ and then seeing people really run with it, is really cool! It’s really cool seeing people empowered to make changes in their local community. So often we feel like we can’t make any type of change, but at the local level there’s so much work to be done. If you want to see something, you can make it happen.”

Pride is a great example. Seven had an initial idea to get Pride going, and then others took off and ran with it. They had a very successful first Pride in Gorham last June with a lot of people from the community joining in the fun. “It was amazing, I was so impressed with just how many people turned out. We can now see this year, because of what we did in Gorham, now Windham/Raymond are doing it. We can see actual impact and actual change!” They had events, performers, vendors, and tables set up for community groups. “It was a space that you could be transparently queer in your own way, and feel safe, it was great!” They even got to wear their festive floral wedding suit for the occasion. 

Seven is also running for the State House seat for Gorham. “A lot of the reason I’m running is because I’ve realized being on the council, we need more people with local knowledge and experience at the state level. That’s been the clear thing for me. A lot of the issues in Gorham are statewide issues. We’re talking about not having the funds to build a new school—all the other towns around us are also talking about that.” 

They know that sometimes it can seem intimidating to start making changes at the local or state level, but encourage anyone wanting to make a difference to get involved. “There are so many committees and groups to join—or you can just do something, get a bunch of people together to make change that you want to see. If you want to see your community made better, you can do it.” Small numbers sharing their thoughts at a town council meeting, or reaching out to state representatives, can have a huge impact as well. “There’s just so much you can do!” And they encourage more people in the community to think of running for office, too. “Having more trans people in office is never a bad thing!”

What does Seven do for fun? “Breakdancing! I absolutely love it, it’s one of the things I’m missing with the campaign, but it’s fantastic. It’s a way of expression that I have not felt elsewhere in life.” So you may see Seven out in your next Gorham town council meeting, or knocking at your door for their campaign for the House—or at a breaking competition with the Pine State Breakers!