POLITICS
Biden Mentions Trans Youth in Address to Congress
Advocates welcome remarks as Biden vows support for LGBTQ rights
BY TAT BELLAMY-WALKER
President Joe Biden
pledged his support for
transgender youth during
his fi rst address to a
joint session of Congress on April
28.
“To all transgender Americans
watching at home, especially the
young people, who are so brave, I
want you to know your president
has your back,” Biden said from
the US Capitol in Washington DC.
The comprehensive speech
touched on numerous points, including
the president’s plan to provide
aid to cash-strapped workers,
children, and students through
the American Families Plan, a
$1.8 trillion program expanding
education access, childcare, and
paid leave policies. The president
also refl ected on his fi rst 100 days
in offi ce and denounced the violent
President Joe Biden addresses a joint session of Congress.
attacks at the Capitol in January.
Biden’s comments were made
against the backdrop of growing
anti-trans legislation in the US targeting
trans youth in sports and
CHIP SOMODEVILLA/POOL VIA REUTERS
healthcare. Just hours before the
president’s address, West Virginia
Governor Jim Justice signed a bill
preventing transgender women
and girls, as well as some non-binary
individuals, from participating
in school sports. Florida’s State
Legislature passed a similar ban
on trans athletes at a high school
and college level.
With Vice President Kamala Harris
and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi
sitting behind him, the president
also urged Congress to pass the
Equality Act, a federal bill backed
by more than 400 businesses that
would enshrine comprehensive
non-discrimination protections for
LGBTQ people across the country.
The bill has been introduced in
the Senate, but appears unlikely
to move at a time when the upper
chamber is too divided.
Ahead of the president’s address,
Stella Keating, the fi rst
transgender teen to testify before
the US Senate during the Equality
Act hearing last month, joined
First Lady Jill Biden in a virtual
talk about transgender rights.
LGBTQ groups are praising
Biden for standing behind the
transgender community.
“The President laid out a broad
agenda that would improve the
lives of diverse LGBTQ people in
this country in so many ways,” Kierra
Johnson, executive director of
the National LGBTQ Task Force,
said in a written statement. “From
the $15 national minimum wage to
the infrastructure bill and the new
American Families Bill, police reform,
the expansion of hate crimes
protections, gun control, voting
rights and protecting our democracy
and more.”
Kasey Suffredini, CEO and national
campaign director of Freedom
for All Americans, a bipartisan
campaign to help secure
LGBTQ nondiscrimination protections,
hopes more politicians can
follow Biden’s lead.
“President Biden’s endorsement
of the Equality Act in his fi rst presidential
address is a historic milestone,
and the latest indicator of
the momentum LGBTQ advocates
and allies have built to pass this
landmark legislation over the past
50 years,” Suffredini said in a written
statement.
Suffredini added, “Treating all
people fairly is not a Democratic or a
Republican value – it’s an American
value, and it will move our country
closer to our ideals of liberty and
justice for all.”
PFLAG, an organization providing
support to LGBTQ families,
commended the president as well.
“We are grateful to President
Biden for his unwavering support
of our LGBTQ+ loved ones,” PFLAG
National Executive Director Brian
K. Bond said in a written statement.
Kai Shappley, a 10-year-old
transgender girl who recently delivered
remarks in front of the
Texas State Senate Committee on
State Affairs, expressed cautious
optimism in response to Biden’s
remarks.
“I’m very thankful for this,”
Shappley wrote on Twitter. “But,
what does having my back mean?
Like, if the bills pass in Texas will
you keep them from putting my
mom in jail?”
Some intersex advocates, however,
noted that Biden’s speech did
not mention the intersex community,
which has overwhelmingly faced
erasure in political conversations
despite calls for increased awareness
on a local and national level.
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