Report: 3 children, 3 adults fatally shot at Nashville elementary school
(CNSNews.com) - In a statement issued under his name, President Joe Biden on Saturday called transgender people "some of the bravest Americans I know."
He said 46 of them were killed "in horrifying acts of violence" so far this year, making this the deadliest year on record for transgender Americans.
And in a separate statement on Saturday, the "Biden-Harris Administration" mourned those 46 transgender Americans "who have lost their lives to anti-transgender violence and hate."
The Biden-Harris statement called the anti-transgender violence a "crisis," a term it has refused to apply to the open southwest border, where drugs, thugs and people unknown are slipping into this country along with millions of the hemisphere's poorest people.
In his statement, President Biden urged state leaders and lawmakers to continue combatting "the disturbing proliferation of discriminatory state legislation targeting transgender people, especially transgender children. As I have said before, these bills are nothing more than bullying disguised as legislation, they are un-American, and they endanger the safety and well-being of our children."
Many of the laws to which Biden objects ban biological males from participating in women's sports. Others deal with bathroom usage and sex-change surgery for minors.
Biden in his statement urged the Senate to pass the Equality Act sent over by the House. "Transgender people are some of the bravest Americans I know," said Biden's statement. "But no person should have to be brave just to live in safety and dignity. Today, we remember. Tomorrow—and every day—we must continue to act."
The second statement from the "Biden-Harris Administration" was much longer, explaining how it was memorializing the Transgender Day of Remembrance and listing the steps it has taken to "address the root causes of anti-transgender violence, discrimination, and denial of economic opportunity."
On Saturday, the White House and Doug Emhoff, the "second gentleman" who is married to Vice President Kamala Harris, hosted a first-of-its-kind vigil at the White House "to honor the lives of transgender and gender diverse people killed this year, and countless transgender and gender diverse people who face brutal violence, harassment, and discrimination in the United States and around the world."
According to the administration's statement, "The Second Gentleman lit 46 candles representing the transgender and gender diverse killed this year in the United States, and a 47th candle for those who have lost their lives to violence around the world." (The White House apparently did not release video of the event, although Emhoff tweeted a photo.)
The White House also released a report from the "Interagency Working Group on Safety, Opportunity, and Inclusion for Transgender and Gender Diverse Individuals," highlighting 45 key, early actions the administration has taken, including:
-- Taking steps to expand the availability of accurate Federal IDs for transgender and gender diverse Americans.
-- Expanding access to gender-affirming care (sex reassignment surgery) as an essential health benefit, meaning insurance plans must cover such procedures under Obamacare.
-- Requiring NIH to increase funding for research on gender-affirming procedures to further develop the evidence base for improved standards of care.
-- Ending the HIV crisis among transgender and gender diverse communities. (The White House Office of National AIDS Policy will identity transgender and gender diverse communities as a priority population in the revised National HIV AIDS Strategy, which will be released on World AIDS Day, December 1, 2021.)
-- Expanding resources for transgender and gender diverse youth in care.
-- Advancing research to address the harms of so-called conversion therapy.
-- Advancing safety and justice for transgender and Two Spirit missing and murdered Indigenous people.
-- Advancing data collection and research on the needs of transgender older adults.
-- Reversing the discriminatory ban on transgender servicemembers.
-- Signing various executive orders on "LGBTQI+ Rights."
(It's a long list. You can read the entire thing here.)
This second White House statement uses the word "crisis" four times, as in:
"Ending the HIV crisis among transgender and gender diverse communities," "Addressing the Crisis of Missing or Murdered (transgender) Indigenous People," "support services to address the crisis of Missing and Murdered (transgender) Indigenous People," and addressing "the crisis of anti-transgender stigma and violence..."