Dallas Voice
Founder of National Center for Transgender Equality calls her selection an indicator of the transgender movement?s progress over a decade
Mara Keisling, founding executive director of the National Center for Transgender Equality, has been named ?Outstanding LGBT Person of the Year? by the GLBT and Supporters Alliance at Harvard University.
Keisling was also chosen to deliver the annual Papadopoulos Lecture on LGBT Issues at Harvard on Tuesday.
?It is an honor to be recognized with this award from one of the pre-eminent institutions of higher learning,? Keisling said. ?It speaks to just how far the movement for transgender civil rights has come in the past decade. I am proud to be asked to speak to the Harvard community about the victories transgender advocates have made ? and continue to make ? against tremendous odds.?
Keisling did her graduate work in American government at Harvard. She is the second alumni to receive the alliance?s annual award. Past recipients include Col. Margarethe Cammermeyer and California State Sen. Sheila Kuehl.
Keisling was also a recently featured speaker at Harvard?s Trans Awareness Rally during which students celebrated the addition of ?gender identity? to the schools nondiscrimination policy.