On Friday, March 29, President Joe Biden released a handful of White House proclamations, one of which was “A Proclamation on Transgender Day of Visibility, 2024” to be celebrated on March 31, which also happens to be Easter Sunday in 2024.
In addition, Biden announced nine other proclamations that included “A Proclamation on National Sexual Assault Awareness and Prevention Month, 2024 (April 2024),” “A Proclamation on National Donate Life Month, 2024 (April 2024),” “A Proclamation on Cesar Chavez Day, 2024 (March 31),” “A Proclamation on National Cancer Prevention and Early Detection Month, 2024 (April 2024),” “A Proclamation on Arab American Heritage Month, 2024 (April 2024),” “A Proclamation on National Public Health Week, 2024 (April 1-7),” “A Proclamation on National Child Abuse Prevention Month, 2024 (April 2024),” “A Proclamation on Care Workers Recognition Month, 2024 (April 2024),” “A Proclamation on Month of the Military Child, 2024 (April 2024),” and “A Proclamation on Second Chance Month, 2024, (April 2024).”
This is the 15th year for International Transgender Visibility Day, a day that Biden has recognized every year he’s been president (2021, 2022, 2023). And every year it’s been celebrated on March 31.
RELATED: Alistair Begg Takes Heat for Advising Grandmother To Attend Grandchild’s Transgender Wedding
“We honor the extraordinary courage and contributions of transgender Americans and reaffirm our Nation’s commitment to forming a more perfect Union—where all people are created equal and treated equally throughout their lives,” Biden said.
“I am proud that my Administration has stood for justice from the start, working to ensure that the LGBTQI+ community can live openly, in safety, with dignity and respect,” he added. “I am proud to have appointed transgender leaders to my Administration and to have ended the ban on transgender Americans serving openly in our military.”
He continued,
I am proud to have signed historic Executive Orders that strengthen civil rights protections in housing, employment, health care, education, the justice system, and more, and I am proud to have signed the Respect for Marriage Act into law, ensuring that every American can marry the person they love.
The president described transgender Americans as a “part of the fabric of our Nation,” saying that they “deserve, and are entitled to, the same rights and freedoms as every other American, including the most fundamental freedom to be their true selves.”
Biden blasted those whom he referred to as “extremists” for “proposing hundreds of hateful laws that target and terrify transgender kids and their families—silencing teachers; banning books; and even threatening parents, doctors, and nurses with prison for helping parents get care for their children.”
Biden said that the aforementioned laws “attack our most basic American values,” which are “the freedom to be yourself, the freedom to make your own health care decisions, and even the right to raise your own child.”
Biden also said it doesn’t “surprise” him that the “bullying and discrimination” in which today’s transgender Americans face “is worsening our nation’s mental health crisis, leading half of transgender youth to consider suicide in the past year.”
