Barbra Casbar Siperstein

Life

Siperstein grew up in Jersey City, New Jersey. She knew that she was different while in early childhood, and did not fully recognize that she was transgender until middle age. Siperstein told her wife that she was transgender in the late 1980s. For most of her life Siperstein denied to herself that she was transgender, until she eventually came out to her wife. Barbra's wife, Carol, was extremely supportive of her. Barbra and Carol created the last name Casbar as a combination of Carol's initials and Barbra, then Barry's, name. Carol encouraged Barbra to be openly outwardly female, and Barbra began to transition in small steps. Barbra was openly transgender with her family, but did not come out publicly until around 2000, when she began her activism in earnest. She was outed by a local newspaper, and continued to transition in strides. Barbra's wife Carol died in 2001. Barbra has said that she channeled her grief about her wife's death into her activist work. Eight years after Carol's death, Barbra changed her Hebrew name officially to a female name after a teshuva on the status of transgender people in the Jewish faith allowed her to do so. Siperstein started her activism fully after her daughter took over her family business, as she felt she was more free to advocate then.

Career & Activism

Prior to transitioning, Siperstein served in the Army and was a small-business owner. Since starting her activism, Barbra has advocated for marriage equality, workplace discrimination reforms, and amendments to discrimination laws in order to better protect transgender people. She also advocates for making gender equality an important part of any political LGBT agenda. Siperstein was formerly president and a board member of the New Jersey Stonewall Democrats until its closure in 2013. She was also Vice President of Garden State Equality and Vice Chair of the Democratic National Committee Eastern Caucus. Through those organizations, she has advocated for gender inclusion in discrimination and hate crime laws in New Jersey. She was also appointed to the New Jersey Civil Union Review Commission. Barbra also contributes to the Huffington Post. She is currently Deputy Vice Chair of the New Jersey Democratic State Committee. She is also Political Director of the Gender Rights Advocacy Association of New Jersey. In 2009, Barbra became the first openly transgender member of the DNC, where she was appointed by then-chairman Tim Kaine. She was appointed to the Democratic National Committee's Executive Committee in 2011, where she currently still serves. She was one of 24 authors that helped write the Dallas Principles in 2009. In the 2016 Democratic National Convention, Siperstein was a superdelegate for Hillary Clinton. As of 2016, she is one of 28 openly transgender people to serve on the Democratic National Committee.