A commitment to equity and a record to back it up helped Abel Liu make history. The San Anselmo resident broke barriers in his landslide University of Virginia Student Council election victory last month that made him the nation's first openly transgender student government president at any university, and the first Chinese American in UVA's 202-year history. Liu captured more than 81 percent of the vote running a campaign focused on student government reform, equity, empowerment, and what he described as “radical compassion.”