In the White House’s latest move to promote LGBT equality, the Obama administration has hired its first openly transgender staff member.
Raffi Freedman-Gurspan's appointment in the Office of Personnel as the outreach and recruitment director was announced on Tuesday.
The move is made doubly ground-breaking by the fact that Freedman-Gurspan is originally from Honduras, and grew up in Brookline, Massachusetts, according to the Associated Press.
Such a decision is particularly poignant against the backdrop of a rise in trans killings in the US, which has disproportionately affected members of ethnic minority groups, the Washington Post reported recently.
Valerie Jarrett, senior adviser to President Obama, welcomed the addition of Freedman-Gurspan to the administration.
She said in a statement to the Washington Blade: “Raffi Freedman-Gurspan demonstrates the kind of leadership this administration champions.”
Referring to Freedman-Gurspan as a "person of colour", a term widely used in the US to describe people who are not white, she added: “Her commitment to bettering the lives of transgender Americans, particularly transgender people of colour and those in poverty, reflects the values of this administration."