President Joe Biden is commemorating Transgender Visibility Day as the White House positions itself against Republican governors who have signed a raft of conservative bills related to transgender issues.
The Biden administration condemned the “dangerous anti-transgender legislative attacks,” contending that they undermine “the well-being and mental health” of transgender children and pose discrimination and harassment risks to their families, according to the White House.
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“As the president has said, these bills are government overreach at its worst, they are un-American, and they must stop,” a fact sheet stated.
Aligning with Biden’s promise to “remove barriers that transgender people face accessing critical government services,” the State Department announced Thursday that U.S. citizens will be able to mark “X” as their gender on their passports starting in April. The White House said other departments and federal agencies will also include the option, such as the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission in its discrimination complaint filing process.
Biden’s fiscal year 2023 budget, released this week, additionally asked Congress for $10 million in funding to research how the Census Bureau’s American Community Survey can best ask questions about sexual orientation and gender identity.
Aside from Jeopardy! champion Amy Schneider’s meeting with Vice President Kamala Harris’s husband, Doug Emhoff, at the White House Thursday, among other events, Education Secretary Miguel Cardona will host a transgender student roundtable in Orlando, Florida.
The administration’s public appearances coincide with the launch of new school training programs through Cardona’s department and online Department of Health and Human Services resources about suicide prevention, as well as the publication of studies finding that “providing gender-affirming care is neither child maltreatment nor malpractice,” according to the White House fact sheet.
Florida Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis this week signed the Parental Rights in Education Act, which prohibits classroom discussions about sexual orientation and gender identity from kindergarten to third grade. It also limits any other conversations “not age appropriate or developmentally appropriate for students in accordance with state standards.”
DeSantis’s action comes after a Texas state judge ruled this month that Republican Gov. Greg Abbott directing his Department of Family and Protective Services to investigate parents who offer their children gender-affirming care went “beyond the scope of his authority and unconstitutional.” District Judge Amy Clark Meachum’s injunction will remain in place until the American Civil Liberties Union and Lambda Legal’s case is heard in July.
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Biden became the first U.S. president to issue a proclamation commemorating Transgender Day of Visibility last year. He has touted that 14% of his administration identifies as non-heterosexual or non-cisgender, as well as his nomination of Assistant Health Secretary Dr. Rachel Levine, the first Senate-confirmed, openly trans U.S. official, and his creation of the White House Gender Policy Council.
