海角大神

The White House has hired its first openly transgender official.

Raffi Freedman-Gurspan, a former policy advisor for the National Center for Transgender Equality (NCTE), began Monday as outreach and recruitment director for the White House Office of Presidential Personnel.

"[She] demonstrates the kind of leadership this administration champions," White House senior adviser聽Valerie Jarrett said, . "Her commitment to bettering the lives of transgender Americans, particularly transgender people of color and those in poverty, reflects the values of this Administration."

Gender-equality advocates have hailed the appointment as a crucial step forward for the LGBT community in the face of continuing violence and discrimination, especially towards transgender people.

鈥淧resident Obama has long said he wants his Administration to look like the American people,鈥� NCTE executive director Mara Keisling . 鈥淚 have understood this to include transgender Americans.鈥�

LGBT advocates have in recent years made steady progress towards gender equality the US; not least of their successes was the Supreme Court鈥檚 historic June decision to legalize gay marriage nationwide.

The rise of celebrities such as Laverne Cox, who stars in the Netflix series, 鈥淥range is the New Black,鈥� as well as the very public transformation of Caitlyn Jenner, have also drawn renewed attention to equality issues for transgender people in particular.

鈥淲e are having a larger national conversation about transgender issues, and by Caitlyn choosing to tell her story, she鈥檚 adding to that conversation,鈥� Nick Adams, a spokesman for LGBT rights advocacy group GLAAD and who is transgender, 聽following the release of Ms. Jenner's Vanity Fair cover. 鈥淚t is allowing Americans to feel like they know someone who is transgender and hopefully bringing a greater understanding about what it means to be a transgender person.鈥�

But challenges facing the LGBT community, particularly transgender individuals, remain. Crimes against transgender people rose by 13 percent in 2014, and of the 20 documented homicides of LGBT individuals that year, more than half the victims were transgender, according to from the National Coalition on Anti-Violence Programs.

Nor is the discrimination limited to outright violence.

In , about 14 percent of respondents were unemployed, double the general unemployment rate at the time. Forty-seven percent said they had experienced an 鈥渁dverse job outcome,鈥� such as being fired, not hired, or denied a promotion despite being qualified because of their gender, and 90 percent said they had been harassed or forced to hide who they were at work.

鈥淲e have the cover of Vanity Fair, but transgender people lack significant rights in most of the country and experience really, truly, heartbreaking levels of poverty, housing instability, and violence against the community,鈥� Laura Durso, director of the LGBT Research and Communications Project at the Center for American Progress, told 海角大神.

These realities highlight why the appointment of a qualified transgender woman like Ms. Freedman-Gurspan to the White House staff is an important step, advocates say. In her time with the NCTE, Freedman-Gurspan has advocated for the improvement of conditions for transgender prisoners, addressing police treatment of transgender communities, and ending violence against transgender women of color, according to Ms. Keisling.

鈥淩affi鈥檚 decade of experience brings important qualities to this historic appointment,鈥� Keisling said.

鈥淎s the old saying goes 鈥榠f you鈥檙e not in the room, then you can鈥檛 possibly be at the table,鈥� 鈥� Wade Henderson, president and CEO of The Leadership Conference of Human Rights, said in a statement. 鈥淥ur nation will be stronger with Freedman-Gurspan ... both in the room and at the table as the first openly transgender White House staffer.鈥�