President Barack Obama has hired the White House's first openly transgender staff member, LGBT advocates announced along with the administration Tuesday.
Raffi Freedman-Gurspan, 28, began working this week as the White House's outreach and recruitment director in the Office of Presidential Personnel, reported The Washington Blade. Freedman-Gurspan previously worked as a trans advocacy policy adviser for the National Center for Transgender Equality.
Valerie Jarrett, senior adviser to Obama, said Freedman-Gurspan "demonstrates the kind of leadership this Administration champions," reported ABC News. "Her commitment to bettering the lives of transgender Americans, particularly transgender people of color and those in poverty, reflects the values of this administration."
The Office of Presidential Personnel oversees the selection process for presidential appointments and recruits qualified candidates to serve the president in various departments and agencies across the government, according to the White House website.
Community leaders and LGBT advocates were quick to laud Obama for taking such a significant step to diversify his administration. "President Obama has long said he wants his administration to look like the American people. I have understood this to include transgender Americans," NCTE Executive Director Mara Keisling said, reported CNN. "That the first transgender appointee is a transgender woman of color is itself significant. And that the first White House transgender appointee is of a friend is inspiring to me and to countless others who have been touched by Raffi's advocacy."
The Obama administration has appointed openly transgender people before, but Freedman-Gurspan is the first to be brought on as White House staff, according to the Blade. President Obama has also taken a few other steps to show support for the LGBT community. Last year, he signed an executive order prohibiting federal contractors from discriminating against employees because of their sexual orientation or gender identity. In April, Obama announced the creation of a gender-neutral bathroom in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building, where much of the White House staff works. He has also condemned the process of trying to "fix" gay and transgender people through conversion therapy.
