It was bound to happen soon.
Raffi Freedman-Gurspan has become the first openly transgender White House staff member, according to an announcement today. She also happens to be a transgender woman of colour.
Raffi Freedman-Gurspan, a former policy adviser at the National Center for Transgender Equality, will serve as an outreach and recruitment director in the White House Office of Presidential Personnel. She’s been praised for her work in empowering and mobilizing members of the LGBT community.
The move marks just one of the handful of positive steps that the Obama administration has taken to express its support for the LGBT community.
As you may recall, last year, Obama signed executive orders that banned federal contractors from discriminating against employees because of their sexual orientation or gender identity. This past spring, Obama denounced therapies that tried to “fix” gay and transgender youth. He also announced the creation of a gender-neutral bathroom in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building.
In June, Obama joined many of us in praise of Caitlyn Jenner’s public transition to life as a woman. We hope this is just the first step of many towards creating a safe and comfortable environment for all gender types.
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