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'I hope that I will soon be one of hundreds, and that this appointment opens future opportunities for many others'
Amanda Simpson
Obama appoints trans woman to Department of Commerce
President Obama's administration has appointed a trans woman to a high-ranking position in the Department of Commerce.
Amanda Simpson, who was most recently the deputy director of Advanced Technology Development at Raytheon Missile Systems in Tucson, Arizona, will become a senior technical adviser at the Bureau of Industry and Security.
A former flight instructor and test pilot who holds degrees in physics, engineering and business administration, Simpson has served on the board of directors of the National Center for Transgender Equality (NCTE) for the past three years.
"I'm truly honored to have received this appointment and am eager and excited about this opportunity that is before me," she said in a NCTE press release. "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."
At Raytheon, where she worked for 30 years, Simpson transitioned from male to female and was instrumental in convincing the company to add gender identity and expression to its equal employment opportunity policy.
In Arizona, she has been on the board of Wingspan, the Southern Arizona Gender Alliance, the Southern Arizona ACLU and Equality Arizona. Nationally, as well as the NCTE, Simpson is on the board of Out and Equal Workplace Advocates. In 2004, she was recognised as one of the YWCA's Women on the Move, and in 2005 was given the Arizona Human Rights Foundation Individual Award.
