Local transgender woman invited to women's leadership summit

LINN — Transgender woman Cathy Serino received an invitation on Wednesday to participate in the "The United States of Women" conference hosted by the White House this June.

"A lot of people don't consider me a real woman, so these people obviously do and accept me as a woman to invite me to a women's summit," Serino said. "It makes me feel fantastic."

Serino didn't know about the summit until last Wednesday when she received her nomination for the event.

"At the time, I had no idea how I'd been nominated, who had nominated me, anything," Serino said. Come to find out, it was somebody who runs a celebrity transgender website."

With her invitation to the summit, Serino wants to make the most of the opportunity in order to help local trans-activists.

"I'm definitely going to be taking a lot of notes and video as much as I can to learn to help me so I can help people locally," Serino said.

Serino believes her invitation to the summit is a big step for transgender people everywhere.

"It's definitely helping our cause and in the long run, it's going to help us get equal rights, which we don't have right now," Serino said.

Serino said she's working on raising money for the trip.