The hiring of a transgender person to the state Commission on the Status of Women is a first, the new board member testified, and comes as a shock to one state rep.

Commission member Giselle Byrd, appointed by Gov. Maura Healey in August, said last month during a hearing over a proposed transgender act (S-2155), that as the “first trans woman of color” on the commission, the board has a new voice.

Byrd’s appointment was made by Healey on August 20, but not without some blowback.

State Rep. Alyson Sullivan-Almeida (R-7th Plymouth) told the Herald Sunday night the governor had plenty of other candidates to choose from.

“Out of the nearly three and a half million biological girls and women in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, Gov. Healey couldn’t identify a qualified biological woman to

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