Dylan Orr (born 1979) is the director of Environmental Health Services for

King County, Washington King County is a County (United States), county located in the U.S. state of Washington (state), Washington. The population was 2,269,675 in the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, making it the List of counties in Washington, most populo ...

. He was formerly the director of the Office of Labor Standards for the City of

Seattle Seattle ( ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Washington and in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. With a population of 780,995 in 2024, it is the 18th-most populous city in the United States. The city is the cou ...

from 2015 to 2018. In that role, Orr was responsible for enforcing Seattle's historic minimum wage law, as well as its paid sick and safe time law, wage theft law, and fair chance employment law. Previously, Orr was chief of staff to assistant secretary Kathy Martinez in the

Office of Disability Employment Policy The United States Department of Labor (DOL) is one of the executive departments of the U.S. federal government. It is responsible for the administration of federal laws governing occupational safety and health, wage and hour standards, unempl ...

. As part of the

United States Department of Labor The United States Department of Labor (DOL) is one of the executive departments of the U.S. federal government. It is responsible for the administration of federal laws governing occupational safety and health, wage and hour standards, unemp ...

, he contributed to the development of national disability employment-related regulations and policies, including regulations issued under Section 503 of the

Rehabilitation Act of 1973 The Rehabilitation Act of 1973 () is a United States federal law, codified at et seq. The principal sponsor of the bill was Rep. John Brademas (D-IN-3). The Rehabilitation Act of 1973 replaces preexisting laws (collectively referred to as the ...

. As the Department of Labor representative, he also worked with the White House

Office of National AIDS Policy The Office of National AIDS Policy, established under President Clinton in 1993, coordinates the continuing domestic efforts to implement the President's National HIV/AIDS Strategy. In addition, the office works to coordinate an increasingly integr ...

on the implementation of the President's National HIV/AIDS Strategy, in addition to making significant contributions to several federal LGBT policies and regulations. He was recruited to the administration by the University of Washington School of Law professor and former EEOC Commissioner Paul Steven Miller. Previously, he was special assistant and advisor to assistant secretary Martinez. Upon his appointment to his role as special assistant in 2009, he became the first openly

transgender A transgender (often shortened to trans) person has a gender identity different from that typically associated with the sex they were sex assignment, assigned at birth. The opposite of ''transgender'' is ''cisgender'', which describes perso ...

person appointed to any U.S.

presidential Presidential may refer to: * "Presidential" (song), a 2005 song by YoungBloodZ * Presidential Airways (charter), an American charter airline based in Florida * Presidential Airways (scheduled), an American passenger airline active in the 1980s * ...

administration.

Early life and career

Orr was born and raised in Seattle, Washington. He worked at the

Conservation Law Foundation Conservation Law Foundation (CLF) is an environmental advocacy organization based in New England, United States. Since 1966, CLF's mission has been to advocate for New England's environment and its communities. CLF's advocacy work takes place acr ...

and the Department of Children and Families in Massachusetts (formerly the Department of Social Services). After moving back to Seattle, Orr held positions at Marten Law Group, Disability Rights Washington, MacDonald Hoague and Bayless, and Columbia Legal Services. In late 2009, he accepted an appointment to the

Obama administration Barack Obama's tenure as the 44th president of the United States began with his first inauguration on January 20, 2009, and ended on January 20, 2017. Obama, a Democrat from Illinois, took office following his victory over Republican nomine ...

Education

Orr received his Bachelor of Arts in anthropology from

Smith College Smith College is a Private university, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts Women's colleges in the United States, women's college in Northampton, Massachusetts, United States. It was chartered in 1871 by Sophia Smit ...

and his Juris Doctor from the

University of Washington School of Law The University of Washington School of Law is the law school of the University of Washington, located on the northwest corner of the main campus in Seattle, Washington (state), Washington. The school is fully accredited by the American Bar Asso ...

. He is a member of the

Washington State Bar Association The Washington State Bar Association (WSBA) is the state bar association of the U.S. state of Washington. It operates under the delegated authority of the Washington Supreme Court to license the state's nearly 41,000 active and inactive lawyers a ...

Recognition

LGBT LGBTQ people are individuals who are lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, or questioning. Many variants of the initialism are used; LGBTQIA+ people incorporates intersex, asexual, aromantic, agender, and other individuals. The gro ...

appointments in the Obama-Biden administration * 2012 Featured in ''

Out Out or OUT may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Films *Out (1957 film), ''Out'' (1957 film), a documentary short about the Hungarian Revolution of 1956 *Out (1982 film), ''Out'' (1982 film), an American film directed by Eli Hollander *O ...

'' Out100: The White House * 2013 ''Gay Politics'' Guest Blog: ''Transgender Day of Remembrance; a Note on HumaniTy'' * 2013 Community Advocate Award by the Massachusetts Transgender Political Coalition * 2013 Julie Johnson Founder's Award by the National Center for Transgender Equality * 2014 Best Lawyers Under 40 by the LGBT Bar Association *2015-2016 German Marshall Fund of the United States Marshall Memorial Fellow

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Orr, Dylan 1979 births Living people Smith College alumni Transgender male politicians American transgender men LGBTQ appointed officials in the United States Obama administration personnel LGBTQ people from Washington (state) University of Washington School of Law alumni

Early life and career

Education

Recognition

See also

References