Obama Appoints Transgender to Advisory Faith Council

President Barack Obama has named a transgender individual to the President’s Advisory Council on Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships.

According to the White House announcement about Barbara Satin’s appointment:

Barbara Satin is the Assistant Faith Work Director for the National LGBTQ Task Force. She is an active member of the United Church of Christ and served on the denomination’s Executive Council as its first openly transgender member. Ms. Satin recently worked on the development of Spirit on Lake, a LGBTQ senior housing project in Minneapolis. She served on the Board of Directors for OutFront Minnesota from 2001 to 2008 and has served as Chair of GLBT Generations since 1999. She has also served on the Board of Directors of PFund Foundation, a regional LGBTQ community foundation advancing social justice in Iowa, Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota and Wisconsin, since 2013.

According to an interview with LGBT Religious Archives Network, Satin was raised “as a boy” in a devout Catholic family and attended Catholic schools. Referring to his “masculine side” as “David,” Satin says that as a teen, he lived for two years at a seminary, but left the school when he realized he could not continue to pursue priestly ministry because of his gender issues. He continued on at a local Catholic college, and then received a commission in the U.S. Air Force. After a kidney infection ended his flying career, Satin returned to St. Paul, married, and had three children with his wife. He is now a grandfather as well.

Full Report