WASHINGTON -- Vice President Joe Biden said transgender discrimination is "the civil rights issue of our time" during a visit to a Florida field office on Tuesday, according to pool reports.

Biden was meeting with volunteers at an Obama for America office in Sarasota, Fla., when he singled out one woman "who he thought had beautiful eyes," reads the pool report. The woman said something to Biden that was inaudible to the pool reporter, but Biden responded to her by saying it was the "civil rights issue of our time."

(Editor’s note: San Diego Gay & Lesbian News has an exclusive local media partnership with QNotes in presenting special LGBT community-oriented coverage of the 2012 Democratic National Convention, which will be Sept. 4-6 in Charlotte, N.C.)

CHARLOTTE N.C. – The 2012 Democratic Convention proved to be reflective of the country’s “melting pot” moniker in multiple ways. The number of LGBT delegates is historical and record-breaking: 486 in total from every state in the country and a dramatic upswing from the 288 on board for the DNC in ’08.

There are approximately 1 million gay or transgender individuals in America today working in state, local, or municipal government. They are firefighters, teachers, police officers, nurses, librarians, child-care providers, sanitation workers, and more. These public servants care for our children, protect our communities, clean our streets, and keep America functioning.

SAN FRANCISCO -- The National Center for Lesbian Rights has hired Geoff Kors, a long-time leader in the LGBT movement, as senior legislative and policy strategist.

Kors starts today and will work with NCLR state legislative director Connie Utada and NCLR policy director Maya Rupert to strengthen and expand the organization's advocacy on national, state, and local legislative and policy initiatives.