Allyson Robinson Allyson Robinson is an American human rights activist , specializing in lesbian , gay , bisexual , transgender ( LGBT ) rights . She majored in physics at West Point and graduated in 1994 , and was then commissioned as an officer serving in the U . S . Army until 1999 . She became an ordained Baptist minister , earning a master of divinity degree in theology with an emphasis on social justice from Baylor University ' s George W . Truett Theological Seminary . In 2008 she joined the Human Rights Campaign ( HRC ) , where she oversaw HRC ' s program to create model curricula for LGBT diversity training in the workplace . She remained there before assuming the role as executive director in 2012 . Later that year she began a short tenure as the first executive director of OutServe - SLDN , a network of LGBT actively serving military personnel , following the merger of OutServe and Servicemembers Legal Defense Network in October 2012 . She was the first transgender person to lead a national LGBT rights organization that did not have an explicit transgender focus . Biography . Born Daniel Robinson , she majored in physics at West Point and graduated in 1994 , and was then commissioned as an officer . Career . Prior to transitioning , Robinson held an internship at Los Alamos National Laboratory and then commanded a Patriot missile unit in Europe and the Middle East before leaving the U . S . Army in 1999 . Following this , she became an ordained Baptist minister , earning a master of divinity degree in theology with an emphasis on social justice from Baylor University ' s George W . Truett Theological Seminary in 2007 . After transitioning to present as female in 2007 , in 2008 she visited West Point and addressed some cadets . In 2008 she joined the HRC Foundation , where as their first Deputy Director for Employee Programs she oversaw HRC ' s program to create model curricula for LGBT diversity training in the workplace . She remained there before assuming her role as executive director in 2012 . She has been a member of the board of directors of several advocacy groups , including the International Foundation for Gender Education , the Association of Welcoming and Affirming Baptists , and Knights Out . In October 2012 she became the first executive director of OutServe - SLDN , a network of LGBT actively serving military personnel , following the merger of OutServe and Servicemembers Legal Defense Network . She was the first transgender person to ever lead a national LGBT rights organization that does not have an explicit transgender focus . The group was in the process of losing much of its funding base after the official September 2011 repeal of Don ' t ask , don ' t tell ( DADT ) , the official United States policy on banning and expelling gays serving in the military enacted in 1993 . Robinson was tasked with bridging the two former groups , and reworking a shrinking budget , having to lay off half the new groups ' staff . Nine months after hiring her , OutServe - SLDN ' s board announced it was bankrupt and had to close its Washington D . C . headquarters ; on the same day , Robinson announced that her resignation as executive director would take effect the following day , July 12 , 2013 . Personal life . Robinson has been married to Danyelle Robinson since 1994 . They have four children .