Raffi Freedman-Gurspan is a transgender rights activist and human rights, gender and LGBT advocate. Raffi Freedman-Gurspan was the first openly transgender person to work as a white house staffer in her role as Outreach and Recruitment Director in the Presidential Personnel Office and is now the director of external relations at the National Center for Transgender Equality.
Raffi Freedman-Gurspan is the Director of External Relations at the National Center for Transgender Equality (NCTE), where she oversees public education and field organizing operations. She was both a Senior Associate Director for Public Engagement, where she served as the primary liaison to the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community, and Outreach and Recruitment Director for Presidential Personnel at the White House from 2015-2017. Raffi was the first openly transgender staffer to work at the White House. She also currently sits on the United States Holocaust Memorial Council as an appointee named by President Barack Obama.
Raffi has worked in non-profit and government sectors for nearly a decade. Her career includes prior employment at NCTE as Policy Advisor for the Racial and Economic Justice Initiative; Legislative Director in the Massachusetts House of Representatives; LGBT Liaison for the City of Somerville, Massachusetts; and Raffi worked with the Massachusetts Transgender Political Coalition, and assisted in gender studies course and research work at Boston University.
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