; Whereas, in 2009, Diego Miguel Sanchez became the first openly transgender senior congressional staffer on Capitol Hill, appointed by Representative Barney Frank; Whereas, on October 28, 2009, the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd, Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act was passed by Congress and signed into law by President Barack Obama, and the bill expanded existing Federal hate crimes laws to include crimes motivated by the actual or perceived gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, or disability of a victim; Whereas, on January 4, 2010, Mayor Annise D. Parker was sworn in as the first openly lesbian Mayor of Houston; Whereas, on November 2, 2010, Victoria Kolakowski was elected to the Alameda County Superior Court in California, becoming the first openly transgender woman to serve as a trial court judge in the United States; Whereas, on November 17, 2010, Phyllis Frye was appointed to the City of Houston Municipal Courts as the first openly transgender judge appointed in the United States; Whereas Congress passed and President Barack Obama signed the repeal of Defense Directive 1304.26 ( Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell ) in December of 2010, allowing gay, lesbian, and bisexual persons to serve openly in the United States Armed Forces; Whereas, in October of 2011, the Girl Scouts of America opened membership to a 7-year-old transgender girl; Whereas, in December of 2011, Lane Lewis became the first gay man elected County Chair of the Democratic Party of Harris County, the 3rd largest county in the United States; Whereas 2012 was the first year in which all 50 States in the United States had not less than 1 openly LGBTQIA+ elected official; Whereas, on April 20, 2012, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission ruled that discrimination on the basis of gender identity is sex discrimination for purposes of title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964; Whereas, on June 12, 2012, Kylar Broadus became the first openly transgender person to testify in a hearing before the United States Senate