President Obama recently named Amanda Simpson to be a Senior Technical Adviser to the Commerce Department, ABC News reports. Though the title and department may not seem like enough to make headlines, it’s something else about Amanda that makes her unique: she used to be a man.
“I’m truly honored to have received this appointment and am eager and excited about this opportunity that is before me,” said Amanda, who is a member of the National Center for Transgender Equity’s board of directors. ”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.”
The NCTE website says that employment can be very difficult for transgender people: “Many transgender people serve our country by working for the federal government, and many more are interested in working for one of our nation’s largest employers. However, current federal government policies hinder transgender people from pursuing federal government jobs. A transgender person can be passed over for hire or can be fired solely based on the fact that he or she is transgender.”
Maybe Amanda can help to change some of those obstacles. While working at Raytheon Missile Systems in Tucson, Arizona, she transitioned from male to female and was instrumental in convincing the military contractor to add gender identity and expression to its equal employment opportunity policy.
