As parents, we know what it’s like to change plans on a dime: to cancel a playdate because someone caught a cold or make a last-minute clothing swap (ours or the kids’) because of a spill. We adapt and move on, still focused on the ultimate goal of what’s best for our family. It’s kind of like politics.
First Lady Jill Biden told the crowd gathered for the White House Pride Month Celebration yesterday that “Kids with two moms or two dads at the playground” were among the many triumphs of the LGBTQ community. I was honored to be at the event with my own family; here’s what I saw.
Judy Shepard, who has dedicated her life to spreading acceptance after her son Matthew was murdered in an anti-gay hate crime, and Jane Rigby, senior project scientist for the James Webb Space Telescope and a lesbian mom, on Friday received the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation’s highest civilian honor.
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services under President Biden has released new regulations affirming nondiscrimination protections for LGBTQ people in health care and for LGBTQ youth in foster care, and requiring access to foster care placements that are supportive of a child’s LGBTQI+ status or identity.
The U.S. Department of Education has released regulations that will better protect LGBTQ students, sexual violence survivors, and others against discrimination in schools. Regulations addressing the inclusion of transgender, nonbinary, and intersex students in school sports, however, are still pending.
Attorney Stuart Delery, currently deputy counsel to the president, will become White House counsel next month, President Biden announced. Delery joins several other queer parents with leading roles in the administration.
President Joe Biden announced he is promoting Principal Deputy Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre to become White House press secretary when Jen Psaki steps down next week. Jean-Pierre will be the first Black woman and the first out LGBTQ person in the role—and also the first Black or queer mom!
President Joe Biden has recently nominated Charlotte Sweeney, a Colorado employee rights attorney, to the federal judiciary, and reappointed Sharon Kleinbaum, a New York rabbi, to the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom. Both are also lesbian moms.
President Biden’s proclamation of May as National Foster Care Month returns to the inclusion begun by President Obama, with a mention of LGBTQ youth in foster care—and a reminder of the challenges that remain to bring equity and justice to our foster care system.
Dr. Rachel Levine yesterday became the first openly transgender person to be confirmed by the Senate and the country’s highest-ranking transgender official. Levine, who has two grown children, will be the assistant secretary for health in the Department of Health and Human Services.
