Why the White House is unveiling new LGBTQ protections right now
"You're loved, you're heard," Biden said on Thursday.
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The White House announced new measures Thursday aimed at protecting queer and transgender people from increasingly harsh attacks launched by conservative media figures and Republican politicians.
The modest measures arrive as Pride celebrations continue across the country — but also as the culture wars over questions of gender and sexuality grow ever more intense ahead of next year’s presidential election.
"LGBTQ Americans, especially children: You're loved, you're heard,” Biden said at a press conference with British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak on Thursday. “This administration has your back — and I mean it. We are not relenting one single second to make sure they're protected."
Read more from our partners: “Here’s why Pride Month is celebrated in June”
What the new guidance does
Absent congressional input, Biden is limited in what he can do with his executive powers. In 2021, the House passed the Equality Act, which would have banned discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity under federal law.
Biden supports the measure, but it stands no chance in a narrowly divided Senate.
“I’m not giving up on this,” Biden said on Thursday.
Thursday’s guidance will
create an interagency task force on LGBTQ safety that will “provide critical safety resources to ensure [community] organizations can remain safe spaces for the community.”
encourage states to use federal funding to provide mental health services to young queer and trans people. HHS will also propose a federal rule to ensure that queer and trans young people in the foster care system “have access to a safe and appropriate placement and have access to supportive services that help to affirm them.”
create a new position at the federal Department of Education “to address the growing threat that book bans pose for the civil rights of students.”
Read more from our partners: “Lifesaving or harmful? Trans care debate barrels toward 2024.”
DeSantis and the culture warriors
Led by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, Republican legislators and governors across the country have moved to prevent discussion of sexuality in the classroom, purge libraries of books on LGBTQ issues and heavily restrict access to therapies required to transition between genders.
With the 2024 election approaching, Republicans are likely to continue what DeSantis has described as a “war on woke,” his catch-all term for opposing progressive ideas on race and gender.
“It’s an appeal to fear,” Biden said on Thursday of such tactics.
Even some conservatives have pushed back on the DeSantis-led crusade, arguing that the GOP’s long-standing commitment to individual liberty should extend to queer and trans people.
"The Republican Party that I grew up with believed in a restrained government that did not jump in the middle of every issue,” Asa Hutchinson, the former Arkansas governor and current GOP presidential candidate, recently offered. “And in this case, it is a very sensitive matter that involves parents, and it involves physicians. And we ought to yield to that decision-making, unless there’s a compelling state reason."
Read more from our partners: “Ron DeSantis loses big in court as judge issues scathing ruling on his anti-trans health care law: 'Gender identity is real'”
Why the Pride celebration at the White House has been delayed
Thursday’s guidance was supposed to coincide with a Pride celebration on the South Lawn of the White House. But heavy smoke from Canadian wildfires has shrouded Washington in a deep haze, and health authorities have advised people to stay indoors.
The celebration is now scheduled to take place on Saturday, by which time the smoke is expected to clear.
Read more from our partners: Joe Biden condemns anti-trans legislation in Transgender Day of Visibility statement: ‘Some of the bravest people I know’
