Half of the transgender delegates at the 2012 Democratic National Convention posed for a photograph after the LGBT caucus met on Thursday, September 6, 2012. From left, Marisa Richmond, Jamie Shiner, Babs Siperstein, Mara Keisling, Kylar Broadus, Melissa Sklarz and Dana Beyer.

It was difficult to sit long at the Democratic National Convention in Charlotte this past week without hearing about the end of "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" or the party's now-official statement, "We support marriage equality." Rarely discussed, however, was the dramatic new focus on transgender issues within the Obama administration and the Democratic Party.

In the early days of the Obama administration, lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender advocates and activists pushed for more action to match President Obama's campaign promises on their rights. As Obama accepted the nomination to run for re-election this past week, however, transgender advocates had the opposite concern. Thrilled, for the most part, with the administration’s actions on trans issues, many transgender Democrats found themselves looking for the action to be matched more often with words — from elected officials like Obama, but also from LGBT leaders themselves.

According to survey data collected by LGBT organizations, transgender people — those people whose own sense of their gender does not match the sex with which they were born — face significant discrimination. Nearly half of the respondents to a 2011 survey reported being ﬁred, not hired or denied a promotion because of being transgender or gender non-conforming. Anti-transgender discrimination in housing, health-care provision and education was likewise reported to be widespread.

Diego Sanchez, an out trans delegate from Massachusetts who works in the office of Democratic Rep. Barney Frank, said of Obama's Thursday night speech, “I wish rather than ‘gay,’ he had said 'LGBT.'" Noting the Obama administration's actions on trans rights — from prohibiting housing discrimination to making it easier for transgender people to change their passports to reflect their gender identity — however, Sanchez added, "I know that when he said gay, he meant LGBT, and I trust that a lot.”

Dana Beyer, an out transgender member of the Credentials Committee in Charlotte, said, “The trans community has clearly experienced a quantum leap in recognition by the national Democratic Party. That was evident not only by the 75 percent increase in trans delegates" — there were 14 out transgender delegate or alternate delegates in Charlotte — "but by the acceptance of trans rights by those who were already accepting of gay rights.”

A former candidate for the statehouse in Maryland, she added, “I won't pretend we've reached paradise. Many people were polite and respectful because it's proper, not because we've been fully embraced. And there is still a long way to go on the state and local level.”

The progress on trans issues, though significant, has happened under the radar for the most part. And, unlike steps taken by the administration on marriage and the military, movement on trans issues — including coverage in the party's platform — rarely is trumpeted as a success outside of LGBT-specific (or even trans-specific) forums and media.

Sanchez posed the issue as a greater question about the LGBT community, and not just elected allies.

“There’s an accountability back to our own LGBT organizations, starting with [the Human Rights Campaign], the [National Gay & Lesbian] Task Force and the [Gay & Lesbian] Victory Fund," he said, pointing to three organizations with a presence at the Democratic National Convention. “Every time that they say 'gay,' rather than LGBT, it denies me from having license to criticize the president for saying 'gay' because their heads say 'gay' when they mean LGBT.

“So, I do not fault the president for saying 'gay,'” Sanchez concluded. “I felt that his intent was to be inclusive because his actions have been inclusive.”