Althea Garrison (born October 7, 1940)[1] is an American politician from Boston, Massachusetts who previously served a single term in the Massachusetts House of Representatives (1993–1995) and a partial term as an at-large councilor on the Boston City Council (2019–2020).

In her only successful campaign, Garrison won election as a Republican to the Massachusetts House of Representatives in 1992.

[1] Garrison moved to Boston to attend beauty school,[9] but went on to enroll in Newbury Junior College and received an associate degree there.

[13] The petition stated that the name Althea Garrison "is consistent with petitioner's appearance and medical condition and is the name by which he [sic] will be known in the future.

[19] In 1992, Garrison ran successfully for the 5th Suffolk district in the Massachusetts House, representing the Dorchester and Roxbury areas of Boston.

Garrison's 1992 election to the legislature was made possible in part by the fact that she challenged some of the signatures that the then-incumbent representative, Nelson Merced, had submitted to qualify for the Democratic primary ballot.

[4] Garrison was defeated in her 1994 bid for re-election by Democratic nominee Charlotte Golar Richie by a margin of 2,108 votes to 1,718.

[34] City rules require that vacancies for the at-large council seats are filled by the next-placed candidate in the previous election, which was Garrison in November 2017.

She was noted to be a strong supporter of then-president Donald Trump and an ardent backer of the Boston Police Department.

[41] Garrison was supportive of the controversial "Operation Clean Sweep" effort by the police in August 2019 which saw 34 arrests in a two-day period in the so-called "Methadone Mile".

[43] Garrison proposed a pro-police resolution in the aftermath of Super Happy Fun America's 2019 "Straight Pride Parade" and unrest that occurred related to it.

[45][46] Garrison opposed a proposal by Councilor Michelle Wu to generate revenue by imposing fees for residential parking permits.

[41] In late-February 2019, Garrison proposed a measure to hold a hearing on the possibility of withholding city payments to the MBTA over the state of its service.

[48] In her first turn to select the convocation, Garrison invited pastor and right-wing perennial candidate Roy Owens.

After being outed by the Boston Herald in 1992, Garrison did not publicly discuss her gender identity until 2023, when she shared that she identifies as trans and had begun the process of socially and medically transitioning in the 1960s.