Oceanside, CA – Oceanside Public Library, in partnership with North County LGBTQ Resource Center, will host author, activist, and trailblazer Mary Ann Horton on Sunday, January 22 at 2:00 p.m. in the Mission Branch Library Community Rooms at 3861-B Mission Ave in Oceanside. Mary Ann Horton will do a short introduction about what it means to be Transgender, share some of her personal stories as a Trans woman in America, and speak about her new book, Trailblazer: Lighting the Path for Transgender Equality in Corporate America. 

Mary Ann Horton, PhD, is a transgender activist, computer systems architect, Internet pioneer, entrepreneur, author, and speaker. In the 1980’s, she was an active part of the early UNIX development that led to Sun Microsystems, Cisco routers, Linux, and the Internet and was part of the UUCP (Unix-to-Unix Copy) team that created the email attachment. In 1997, she persuaded Lucent Technologies to become the first Fortune 500 company to add transgender-inclusive language to its nondiscrimination policy, and to add coverage for transition care and surgery. Her work, which was soon replicated at Apple and Avaya, led “Out & Equal Workplace Associates” to present her with the “2001 Trailblazer Outie Award” (since renamed the LGBT Corporate Advocate of the Year). “Trailblazer” is her debut memoir. Mary Ann will leave time for questions and books will be available for purchase at the event.

Support for this program is also provided by The Friends of the Oceanside Public Library. The Oceanside Public Library aims to empower the community by promoting literacy, information access, civic engagement, cultural inclusiveness and openness to new ideas. Visit www.oceansidepubliclibrary.com for more info about Library programs and services.