Obama appoints first transgender staff member

She is the new outreach and recruitment director for presidential personnel in the White House Office of Presidential Personnel, according to the National Center for Transgender Equality (NCTE).

Mara Keisling, the executive director of the National Center for Transgender Equality praised the decision not only because of Freedman-Gurspan’s open transgender identity, but also because of race.

The first openly transgender White House official began work Monday, the Wall Street Journal reported.

“Our nation will be stronger with Freedman-Gurspan, an advocate from The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights coalition, both in the room and at the table as the first openly transgender White House staffer”. Still, Obama was heckled by a transgender attendee during an event at the White House celebrating Gay Pride Month in June over his treatment of LGBTQ immigrants.

“President Obama has long said he wants his administration to look like the American people”, she said. “I have understood this to include transgender Americans”, Kiesling said. Freedman-Gurspa, 28, was previously known as Rafael and is an orphan from Honduras who grew up in Massachusetts. The appointment of the first White House transgender staffer sparked controversy and online backlash almost immediately after following the announcement by the Obama administration. She really particularly excelled in the policy work.

Massachusetts State Representative Carl Sciortino Jr, called Freedman-Gurspan a “role model”.

The White House has said that Raffi Freedman-Gurspan is not available for comment at this time. I think that for the transgender community, what’s going to happen is that in her daily work, people will come to respect her, and know her, and learn from her, on a whole range of issues.