Biden: LGBTQI+ Rights Under ‘Relentless Attack’
(CNS News) — Democratic President Joe Biden decried “dangerous anti-LGBTQ+ legislation” and called for the Equality Act to be passed in a proclamation marking June as Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer, and Intersex (LGBTQI+) Pride Month.
Although Biden said LGBTQI+ Americans’ human rights are “under relentless attack,” he did not cite specific legislation that targets such individuals and their families’ rights. However, several states have banned performing gender-reassignment surgeries on minors and prohibited biological males from playing on female school sports teams.
“Today, the rights of LGBTQI+ Americans are under relentless attack,” Biden said in the White House proclamation. “Members of the LGBTQI+ community — especially people of color and trans people — continue to face discrimination and cruel, persistent efforts to undermine their human rights.”
“An onslaught of dangerous anti-LGBTQI+ legislation has been introduced and passed in States across the country, targeting transgender children and their parents and interfering with their access to health care,” said Biden. “These unconscionable attacks have left countless LGBTQI+ families in fear and pain.”
Some conservative commentators, such as Matt Walsh, have criticized the liberal notion that one’s gender may not be the same as one’s biological sex. Walsh’s new documentary “What is a Woman?” challenges the claim that gender is a social construct by exposing its proponents’ inability to define “men” or “women.”
“I have been told… that a woman is anyone who identifies as a woman. But that definition doesn’t work because you can’t use the word you’re defining in the definition,” Walsh’s commentary at The Daily Wire reads.
Coming June 1. My journey to find the answer to the great question of our time. You will not want to miss this film. #WhatIsAWoman
— Matt Walsh (@MattWalshBlog) May 14, 2022
In his proclamation, Biden blamed GOP legislation for the rise in suicidal thoughts among LGBTQI+ youth, adding,
“All of this [legislation] compounded has been especially difficult on LGBTQI+ youth, 45 percent of whom seriously considered attempting suicide in the last year — a devastating reality that our Nation must work urgently to address.”
While some say gender-reassignment surgeries will prevent suicidal attempts among transgender youth, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) came to the opposite conclusion.
Referencing a large Swedish study from 2011 of transgender patients before and after gender-reassignment surgery, the CMS reported a 19-times-greater likelihood for death by suicide post-surgery.
“The study identified increased mortality and psychiatric hospitalization compared to the [6,480] matched controls,” the CMS writes in its “Gender Dysphoria and Gender Reassignment Surgery” webpage.
“The mortality was primarily due to completed suicides (19.1-fold greater than in control Swedes), but death due to neoplasm and cardiovascular disease was increased 2 to 2.5 times as well,” said the CMS. “We note, mortality from this patient population did not become apparent until after 10 years. The risk for psychiatric hospitalization was 2.8 times greater than in controls even after adjustment for prior psychiatric disease (18%). The risk for attempted suicide was greater in male-to-female patients regardless of the gender of the control.”
After condemning legislation that promotes “intolerance, discrimination, and injustice,” Biden went on to list the actions his administration has taken to combat those struggles, including an Executive Order prohibiting discrimination based on gender identity or sexual orientation across all federal sectors, as well as measures tailored to transgender individuals.
“My Administration has expanded access to inclusive passports for transgender Americans and instituted reforms to the traveler screening process at United States airports,” Biden said. “We are supporting the open service for patriotic transgender military members and providing better services for LGBTQI+ veterans.”
Biden pushed for Congress to pass the Equality Act, which bans discrimination in public accommodations and being denied access to shared facilities based on sex, sexual orientation, and gender identity.
Mary Beth Waddell, the Director of Federal Affairs – Family and Religious Liberty for Family Research Council, asserts that the Equality Act creates inequality rather than equality.
“The Equality Act mandates an anti-life, anti-family, and anti-faith agenda throughout federal law, and would be a disaster for all Americans,” Waddell wrote in a brief.
Biden stated, “[The Equality Act] will enshrine long overdue civil rights protections and build a better future for all LGBTQI+ Americans,” and added that he will always help younger transgender Americans “reach [their] God-given potential.”
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