Donnie Anderson

Donnie Anderson (born 1947 or 1948) is an American Baptist minister and social activist based in Rhode Island. As executive minister of the Rhode Island State Council of Churches from 2007 to 2020, Anderson acted as a representative for various denominations and church organizations in the state and was the subject of media attention in 2018 when she came out as a transgender woman. She ran in the Democratic primary to represent Senate District 1 (Providence) in 2022, losing to incumbent Maryellen Goodwin. In 2023, she was elected chair of the Rhode Island Democratic Women's Caucus, a political organization separate from the state Democratic Party. The Providence Journal in 2018 described her as a social activist for "the poor, the homeless and the LGBTQ community in Rhode Island."

Early life Anderson was born to Carl and Ruth (Fassel) Anderson in 1947 or 1948. Raised in Cranston, Rhode Island, and she went on to earn a bachelor's degree in business education from Barrington College, a master's degree in religious studies from Providence College, and a Doctor of Ministry from Eastern Baptist Theological Seminary.

Anderson was raised in the conservative evangelical Protestant faith, but felt her "attitudes shifted" during college. By her early thirties, she was affiliated with the American Baptist denomination, which she found to be more liberal. In Connecticut, she felt that her "openness" was out of place, being the only pastor in that denomination in New England who supported the concept of ordaining women. She served as RISCC's executive minister, a role in which she acted as a "face" of the organization, spoke in favor of a 2011 lawsuit against the city of Cranston by the American Civil Liberties Union to remove a prayer banner displayed in Cranston High School West (Ahlquist v. Cranston); and led interfaith sanctuary church efforts in 2017. Anderson participated in the 2017 Women's March in Washington, D.C., held after the inauguration of Donald Trump as president,

A transgender woman, Anderson experienced gender dysphoria since childhood and an interest in "the feminine" when she was growing up,

Political activities (2022present) Anderson ran as a candidate in the 2022 Democratic primary for the Rhode Island General Assembly seat for Senate District 1 in Providence, challenging incumbent Maryellen Goodwin, the majority whip of the state senate. She was reported to be one of three transgender people running in the primaries in September, who, if elected, would be the first transgender person to join the General Assembly. Goodwin ultimately won the primary.

In 2023, Anderson ran unopposed in the election for chair of the Rhode Island Democratic Women's Caucus an organization that separated from the state Democratic Party over new party bylaws forbidding it from spending and making statements and political endorsements. At the time of her election, she was a minister at the Pilgrim United Church of Christ in New Bedford, Massachusetts.

Personal life Anderson came out as a transgender woman to her wife in 2018, 23 years into their marriage, and they subsequently separated.