Los Angeles County Exceeds 10 Million Residents

Los Angeles is the largest county in the United States by population, officially exceeding 10 million residents according to the United States Census on July 1, 2013. According to Bloomberg news, the population of L.A. is greater than that of 43 states! Yet, the executive and legislative branches of Los Angeles county government are controlled by 5 people (no wonder they are called the "The Five Kings").

In fact, Los Angeles is bigger than the sum of the second and third largest counties (Cook: Chicago metro and Harris: Dallas Houston metro) combined. New York City consists of 5 mega-counties in close proximity, but no single one of them gets into the Top 5, although King County (Manhattan) and Queens County (Queens) are 8th and 10th, respectively.

Southern California has the 1st, 5th and 6th largest counties in the United States (Los Angeles, San Diego and Orange).

However, if you measure metro area population, the New York City area is still the largest, approaching 20 million, while Los Angeles metro exceeds 13 million (when you combine Los Angeles and Orange County).

Metro area Population  

1. New York-Newark-Jersey City, N.Y.-N.J.-Pa. 19,949,502  

2. Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, Calif. 13,131,431  

3. Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, Ill.-Ind.-Wis. 9,537,289  

4. Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington, Texas 6,810,913  

5. Houston-The Woodlands-Sugar Land, Texas 6,313,158  

6. Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington, Pa.-N.J.-Del.-Md. 6,034,678  

7. Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, D.C.-Va.-Md.-W.Va. 5,949,859  

8. Miami-Fort Lauderdale-West Palm Beach, Fla. 5,828,191  

9. Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Roswell, Ga. 5,522,942 

10. Boston-Cambridge-Newton, Mass.-N.H. 4,684,299 

Interesting list. Curious that Phoenix (Maricopa County) is not in the Top 10, and that even though Houston is the largest city in Texas, Dallas metro is the largest metro area in the Longhorn Lone Star State.

Transgender Teen Voted Homecoming Queen At SoCal High School

An interesting LGBT landmark occurred in Southern California yesterday. A 16-year-old transgender girl named Cassidy Lynn Campbell was voted homecoming queen at a local Southern California high school.

Cassidy Lynn Campbell broke down in tears Friday night when she learned that she had been crowned homecoming queen. 

The senior at Marina High School in Huntington Beach was born male but told The Times she always felt like a girl. In high school, she began taking hormone blockers and estrogen injections prescribed by an endocrinologist and made the transition to living as a girl. 

She decided to run for homecoming queen, in part, to make a statement. 

"If I win it would mean that the school recognizes me as the gender I always felt I was," Cassidy, 16, told The Times before the election. 

"But with all the attention, I realized it's bigger than me," she said. "I'm doing this for the kids who can't be themselves."

She may be the first but will almost certainly not be the last transgender homecoming queen. As I've said before, the more people realize that gender is not a binary phenomenon, the more progress will be made for LGBT equality, so I see this as a big step forward for LGBT rights.

Hat/tip to Wonder Man