Avenger of the Week | Kristin Graziano, First Woman and First Openly Gay South Carolina Sheriff

When deputy sheriff Kristin Graziano decided to run for County Sheriff in Charleston County, South Carolina last year, her opponent, then-boss, and current County Sheriff immediately put her on unpaid administrative leave until after the election. Surprisingly, his action was not against the law.

Undaunted, Graziano ran a campaign focused on greater accountability, fairness, and communication with all communities, which helped her raise more money than her opponent and won her the election. In January 2021, she not only became the first woman to be elected to the position, but she also became the first openly gay sheriff in the state of South Carolina, leading a 900-member department with an $82 million budget.

In an effort to reimagine public safety in the county, Graziano is working with department and community transition teams. She is conducting a financial and a racial bias audit and has kept her campaign promise to end an agreement with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) that involved county sheriff’s offices in detaining and housing illegal immigrants. On her first day in office this past January, a mentally ill inmate in the county jail died while being subdued by sheriff’s deputies, and Graziano released the video and removed the officers involved pending completion of the investigation.

Graziano, 53, decided to go into law enforcement when she was 13 years old after her little sister was kidnapped while walking home from a babysitting job and rescued five days later by police. In 1988, she joined the police force in her Virginia hometown, and she moved to the Charleston sheriff’s office in 2002. Her assignments have ranged from school resource officer and courtroom security to the anti-terrorism task force, and most recently the SWAT team. She also developed a model for response to school shootings.

For her courage and determination when taking on tough issues in a long-shot election and for breaking barriers for women and the LGBTQ community in her state, Sheriff Kristin Graziano is the GenderAvenger Avenger of the Week.

The @GenderAvenger #AvengerOfTheWeek is the first woman and first openly gay South Carolina sheriff, @krgraziano. She's taking on tough issues and breaking barriers for women and the LGBTQ community. #GenderAvenger https://www.genderavenger.com/blog/kristin-graziano-first-woman-first-gay-south-carolina-sheriff