White House's Transgender Meeting

[Shana A]

White House's Transgender Meeting

by Nancy Goldstein

The Office of Public Engagement just held its first meeting focused on transgender issues. But with Obama stalling on LGBT issues, will his base fall in line? Nancy Goldstein reports.

http://www.thedailybeast.com/blogs-and-stories/2011-04-30/white-house-hosts-transgender-activists/?cid=hp:beastoriginalsL8#

How should we view Friday's historic meeting between White House staff and transgender activists—the first ever by the Office of Public Engagement (OPE) to focus specifically on transgender issues? Is this Change You Can Believe In? Or simply a gesture intended to Make a Core Constituency Feel Heard at a Politically Sensitive Time? After all, much of President Obama's April agenda (such as his fiscal policy speech mid-month) seemed geared toward patching things up with bummed-out progressives and removing obstacles (see his rebuttal to birthers earlier this week) to his recently announced re-election bid.