For #LGBThistorymonth I will be posting an #lgbtq #womaninhistory every day. Today is Roberta Achtenberg, an American politician who serves as a commissioner of the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights. She is the first openly gay presidential appointee confirmed by the Senate.

Achtenberg was first elected to public office on the San Francisco Board of Supervisors. During the Clinton administration she served as Assistant Secretary for Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity. In 1993, she was appointed Assistant Secretary of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.

In 2011, President Obama named Achtenberg to the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights. Achtenberg has also worked as a staff attorney for the Lesbian Rights Project of Equal Rights Advocates and is a co-founder of the National Center for Lesbian Rights.