A Transgender Political First

categories: LGBT Politicians, LGBT Rights and Politics, Obama Administration and Gay Rights, Transgender Issues

Published September 08, 2009 @ 04:21AM PT

Tim Kaine

A transgender political glass ceiling is about to be busted wide open this week, with the official appointment of Babs Casbar Siperstein to as a member of the Democratic National Committee (DNC). Gov. Tim Kaine, the chair of the DNC, appointed Siperstein to fill one of the 75 at-large seats available on the DNC, making her the first openly transgender person ever to serve on a major national political committee.

Siperstein currently serves as President of the New Jersey chapter of Stonewall Democrats, and as a Vice-Chair with the New Jersey Democratic Party. Or, in other words, she's darn qualified to be nominated to this position.

Gov. Kaine made the announcement this past weekend, and in addition to Siperstein, he also nominated five other LGBT people for at-large seats on the DNC. Joining Siperstein will be Evan Low, a city councilmember from Campbell, California; Lupe Valdez, the sheriff of Dallas County, Texas; Earl Fowlkes, the President of the International Federation of Black Prides; Terry Bean, a real estate broker from Oregon and a former member of Barack Obama's National Finance Committee during the campaign; and Randi Weingarten, the President of the American Federation of Teachers.

Damn. Talk about an all-star line-up of LGBT politicos. And what a great way to start the Fall, by smashing political glass ceilings and seeing that LGBT people will have more seats than they've ever had before on the DNC.

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Comments (5)

Words can not express how proud I am of my father! For most children there is a time that you realize your parents can't do everything. I haven't seen that moment yet. Barbra is capable of anything. She is constantly fighting for what she believes in and I support her 100%!

Posted by Jana Siperstein on 09/08/2009 @ 07:10AM PT
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Wow, Jana! Thank you so much for sharing! I'm really proud of the DNC for honoring Barbra's work with this position. It's really a huge step forward, and we're all lucky to have someone with as much passion and commitment as Barbra helping shape the DNC's platform.

Posted by Michael Jones on 09/08/2009 @ 08:26AM PT
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Babs is a TRUE hero and a very dear friend of mine. She also was recently elected as Co-Chair (with me) of National Stonewall Democrats PAC and I couldn't be more proud and inspired by her... Way to go BABS! This is a huge step forward... and hopefully someday soon we will see a more accurate refection of DNC Members who are LGBT... but this is a HUGE step forward in making that day a reality.

Posted by Stephen Handwerk on 09/08/2009 @ 12:48PM PT
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Cool...Very cool.

Posted by Thomas McHugh on 09/08/2009 @ 02:20PM PT
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It's good that Tim Kaine, current governor in my state, has chosen Babs Casbar Siperstein for a seat in the Democratic National Convention. Too times those in charge ignore LGBT people because of cowardice or forget about qualified LGBT people, but the chairman of the DNC hasn't forgotten that there are many LGBT people qualified for privileged positions. It's also good that there are also more qualified LGBT people in the list for the DNC.

Posted by Edwin Bonilla on 09/08/2009 @ 03:29PM PT
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Michael is the Communications Director for the Human Rights Program at Harvard Law School, and previously was Communications Director for Pax Christi USA, a progressive Catholic human rights organization.