The White House has hired its first openly transgender staff member, the Washington Post reports.
The staffer, Raffi Freedman-Gurspan, will work as a recruitment director for presidential personnel. She is not the first transgender staff person to be hired by other agencies under this administration, but is the first to work in the White House. She is also a transgender woman of color, which LGBT groups noted as significant a news release.
According to the Post,
Freedman-Gurspan "demonstrates the kind of leadership this administration champions," Valerie Jarrett, senior adviser to President Obama, said in an e-mailed statement confirming the appointment.
"Her commitment to bettering the lives of transgender Americans —particularly transgender people of color and those in poverty — reflects the values of this administration."
[...]Freedman-Gurspan's previous job was at the National Center for Transgender Equality, where she worked as a policy adviser for the Racial and Economic Justice Initiative. In that role, she also urged the government to release undocumented transgender immigrants who cannot be adequately protected from sexual violence in detention.
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