Trump Admin Deadnames Biden’s Transgender Health and Human Services Official in Portrait Reveal

A new portrait name plate for former Biden Health and Human Services official Rachel Levine, who is a transgender woman, drew accusations of bigotry when it was revealed Monday.

Instead of displaying her current name, the Trump administration created the name plate to reflect Levine’s dead name of “Richard.”

Deadnaming is when a transgender person is called by their birth name instead of the name that reflects their gender transition.

Fox News correspondent Alexandria Hoff reported, “Dr. Levine served as the Assistant Secretary of Health under President Biden. Was the first openly transgender four-star officer, first trans person to hold an office that required Senate confirmation. Levine was also a prominent figure during the COVID-19 pandemic.”

Hoff continued:

Her legal first name, Rachel, may be familiar to many Americans, though recently, that name was scrubbed from Levine’s portrait inside of Health and Human Services headquarters here in Washington. Fox News did confirm that on that photo, Levine’s birth name of “Richard” now stands in place of “Rachel.”

An HHS spokesperson told NPR this, quote, “Our priority is ensuring that the information presented internally and externally by HHS reflects gold-standard science. We remain committed to reversing harmful policies enacted by Levine and ensuring that biological reality guides our approach to public health.”

The portrait change appears to be product of the president’s executive order to mandate all federal employees when acting in official capacity shall be recognized by sex, which is biological, and not gender identity.

Hoff added, “The Human Rights Campaign called the portrait revision ‘a public display of bigotry.'”

Some government officials and pundits expressed their outrage on social media.

California state Sen. Scott Wiener (D) vowed to change the nameplate when Democrats are back in power, while Rep. Becca Balint (D-VT) wrote that “insecure” Trump officials are “busy stoking bigotry” instead of “honoring a patriot.”

Levine hasn’t publicly commented.

Watch the clip above via Fox News.

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