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Barbra Siperstein
2015 Icon
Transgender Advocate
b. 1942
“If gays and lesbians are second-class citizens, what was I as a single transgender person?”
Barbra “Babs” Siperstein is the first openly transgender at-large member of the Democratic National Committee (DNC). Born Barry Siperstein, she transitioned when she was nearly 50 years old. She legally changed her name in 2007. Siperstein is currently a member of the DNC’s executive committee. She serves as deputy vice chair of the New Jersey Democratic State Committee and is the political director of the Gender Rights Advocacy Association of New Jersey.
She has been instrumental in amending the New Jersey Law Against Discrimination to protect transgender people. She also advocated for gender-identity nondiscrimination to be added to the DNC bylaws.
A U.S. Army veteran, Siperstein has spent most of her life as an advocate for equality with an unwavering dedication to transgender rights and awareness. In her home state of New Jersey, she has been involved in more than a half dozen organizations, including the New Jersey Stonewall Democrats and Garden State Equality.
She has been New Jersey’s first transgender delegate to the Democratic National Convention. She served on former Governor John Corbett’s Labor and Workforce Development Policy Group and is the co-author of The Dallas Principles, a set of eight precepts for achieving full LGBT equality.
In 2004 Siperstein received the New Jersey Personal Liberty Fund’s Honors Award. In 2011 she became the first recipient of Garden State Equality’s John Adler Icon of Equality Award. Subsequently, she was honored as a Champion of Civil Rights by the New Jersey Chapter of the New Leaders Council; she received the Stonewall Legacy Award from The Pride Network; and she was recognized with the 2015 Advocacy Humanitarian Award by the American Conference on persity.
Siperstein came out first to her wife, Carol. The couple remained married until Carol’s death in 2001.
With her daughter Jana, Siperstein owns and operates Siperstein Fords Paints Corp., a specialty coatings supplier and home décor retailer. She has three grandchildren.
