Obama appoints first openly transgender person to executive post!

As 2009 came to a close President Obama appointed Amanda Simpson, an openly transgender woman, to be a Senior Technical Advisor in the Commerce Department's Bureau of Industry and Security. This position will require her to monitor the exports of U.S. weapons technology. Simpson began her new job on January 5, 2010.

Amanda Simpson is a member of the National Center for Transgender Equality board of directors, and has been very active in the LGBTQ community. She has served on the board of both NCTE  and Out & Equal. While residing in Arizona she has been actively involved with  Wingspan, the Southern Arizona Gender Alliance, the Southern Arizona ACLU and Equality Arizona (formally known as the Arizona Human Rights Fund). In her most recent job as Deputy Director in Advanced Technology Development at Raytheon Missile Systems, Ms. Simpson played a crucial role in persuading the military contractor in adding gender identity and expression to it's equal employment opportunity policy. 

Ms. Simpson holds degrees in physics, engineering and business administration. She has worked in the aerospace and defense industry for thirty years, and brings considerable experience to her newly appointed position.

In a prepared statement released on December 31st Simpson said, "I'm truly honored to have received this appointment and am eager and excited about this opportunity that is before me. And at the same time, as one of the first transgender presidential appointees to the federal government, I hope that I will soon be one of hundreds, and that this appointment opens future opportunities for many others." Ms. Simpson is among more than one hundred openly lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender individuals appointed by the Obama administration since it came into office last year.