President Joe Biden is pushing back on criticism over the decision to recognize March 31 as the Transgender Day of Visibility.
During the White House Easter Egg Roll, a reporter asked the president about House Speaker Mike Johnson’s (R-La.) calling the recognition — which happened to fall on the same day as Easter — outrageous.
“He’s thoroughly uninformed,” Biden responded.
A reporter asked, “Uninformed how?”
“I didn’t do that,” Biden insisted.
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— Stephanie Myers (@_StephanieMyers) April 1, 2024
Biden took questions from the press during the White House Easter Egg Roll and this is how he responded to the backlash after issuing a proclamation on transgender day of visibility on Easter:
Q: "Speaker Johnson called it outrageous that Easter Sunday was transgender day…
The outrage centers around an official proclamation, naming March 31, 2023, “Transgender Day of Visibility.”
In it, the president called “upon all Americans to join us in lifting up the lives and voices of transgender people throughout our Nation and to work toward eliminating violence and discrimination based on gender identity.”
He added: “Today, we send a message to all transgender Americans: You are loved. You are heard. You are understood. You belong. You are America, and my entire Administration and I have your back.”
The Biden White House has released a statement proclaiming that tomorrow, Easter Sunday, is now Transgender Visibility Day. pic.twitter.com/K24gGfMQWO
— Owen Shroyer (@OwenShroyer1776) March 30, 2024
And the fact the date was the same as Easter set off a lot of people on X.
But,you don’t have to be a supporter or so-called ally of LGBT people to notice that the outrage over the weekend was blown out of proportion, and a simple Google search by a lot of the influencers on X who are poised to explode at anything they don’t like might have helped.
As the White House pointed out, it has released this proclamation every year since Biden took office on March 31, and former President Barack Obama also issued the proclamation.
However, Easter is not always March 31. It changes weeks, and this year it just happened to fall on March 31.
The proclamation also did not explicitly state Easter is the trans day of visibility, but that March 31 is.
That doesn’t mean it’s a good idea, or that it was wise for the White House to decide to continue its tradition this year. But the idea pushed by a lot of these influencers, who tend to be uninformed grifters who take their lead on any position based on what Republican front-runner feels like post on his social media platform while claiming to be thoughtful commentators, that this was some insidious plot to attack Christians is a stretch.
In politics, there is a lot of stupidity and a lack of awareness. And more likely than not, some White House staffer who doesn’t know when Easter is probably said, “Oh, it’s March 31, it’s time to put out that statement” and didn’t even think about Easter.
After all, these are the staffers who drafted a condolence letter to the non-existent daughter of the late Gov. Bill Richardson.
They’re just not that bright, but are they very much steeped in online progressive thought.