Raffi Freedman-Gurspan becomes White House first transgender official

The Obama administration made history Tuesday by hiring the first openly transgender official in White House history.

Officials said that Raffi Freedman-Gurspan, who formerly served as a policy advisor at the National Center for Transgender Equality, has been hired as an outreach and recruitment director in the White House Office of Personnel.

President Obama has made equality for the LGBT community a priority of his administration, and advocates praised the president for diversifying his White House.

“I am elated that Raffi Freedman-Gurspan will become the first openly transgender staff member at the White House. President Obama has long said he wants his Administration to look like the American people. I have understood this to include transgender Americans,” said Mara Keisling, executive director of the National Center for Transgender Equality. “A transgender person was inevitably going to work in the White House. 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.”