On Tuesday, President Obama appointed the very first transgender person to work in the White House. Raffi Freedman-Gurspan will serve as the White House’s outreach and recruitment director for presidential personnel in the White House Office of Presidential Personnel.
Prior to this position, Freedman-Gurspan worked as a policy adviser for the Racial and Economic Justice Initiative at the National Center for Transgender Equality (NCTE). Mara Keisling, the NCTE’s executive director, praised the White House’s decision: “President Obama has long said he wants his administration to look like the American people. I have understood this to include transgender Americans,” she said. “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.”
This past June, Freedman-Gurspan advocated for the safety of transgender immigrants being held in detentions and urged the Obama Administration to release them due to their increased likelihood of being sexual assault victims.
