Bidens offer 'joy' at White House Pride event as LGBTQ attacks mount
Corrects description of Buttigieg in paragraph 3
By Andrea Shalal
WASHINGTON, June 10 (Reuters) -U.S. President Joe Biden on Saturday hosted the largest Pride celebration in White House history, calling for new measures to protect the rights and safety of LGBTQ+ people amid a spate of what he called "terrifying" attacks and legislation.
Biden, a Democrat, urged Congress to pass the "Equality Act" which would amend the 1964 Civil Rights Act to include sexual orientation and gender identity for protection alongside race, religion, sex and national origin, and ban assault weapons.
Thousands of guests picnicked on the South Lawn including Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, the first openly LGBTQ U.S. Cabinet secretary confirmed by lawmakers, and Assistant Secretary of Health and Human Services Admiral Rachel Levine, the first openly transgender person to be confirmed by the Senate.
Biden said the guests also included survivors of deadly shootings at the LGTBQ Club Q nightclub in Colorado Springs last November and Pulse, a gay nightclub in Orlando, Florida, in 2016.
The attacks and a flurry of bills in Republican-led states targeting transgender youth, banning teachers of younger children from discussing gender or sexuality and proposed or passed laws restricting drag performances have created a threatening environment for LGTBQ people, Biden said.
"When families across the country face excruciating decisions to relocate to a different state to protect their child from dangerous ant-LGTBQ laws, we have to act. We need to push back against the hundreds of callous and cynical bills introduced in states targeting transgender children, terrifying families and criminalizing doctors and nurses," he said.
"These bills and laws attack the most basic values and freedoms we have as Americans," he said, drawing cheers and applause from the crowd, where many wore rainbow colors, shorts and sundresses, and some came dressed in drag.
Many chanted "four more years" as he neared the end of his remarks.
First lady Jill Biden said the celebration was meant to "find joy" and "celebrate the beauty and resilience" of the LGBTQ community in face of growing threats to their lives and rights.
"Today, we say loud and clear - that you belong, that you are beautiful, that you are loved," she said. "Let it remind you that you don't have to face those battles alone. You are never alone."
The celebration was delayed from Thursday due to smoke from Canadian wildfires.
Biden this week announced new measures intended to curb book bans and hate crimes, help transgender youth access better care and increased federal coordination to "better protect Pride celebrations, marches, community centers, healthcare providers and small businesses.
Florida has been at the forefront of restrictions aimed at the LGBTQ community under Governor Ron DeSantis, who says the measures protect children, and recently entered the race for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination to challenge Biden.
As president, Biden has overturned a ban on transgender individuals serving in the military, issued a new order to stop conversion therapy and signed the Respect for Marriage Act, which federally recognizes same-sex marriages, into law.
American support for same-sex marriage has doubled since the late 1990s to more than 70%, Gallup polls show, and the percentage of people who identify as LGBTQ has doubled in the past decade to over 7%.
More than 70 bills considered anti-LGBTQ by the Human Rights Campaign were passed in statehouses this legislative session, double last year's previous record, and over 500 were introduced.
Reporting by Andrea Shalal; Additional reporting by Jeff Mason; Editing by Deepa Babington
免責聲明: XM Group提供線上交易平台的登入和執行服務，允許個人查看和/或使用網站所提供的內容，但不進行任何更改或擴展其服務和訪問權限，並受以下條款與條例約束：（i）條款與條例；（ii）風險提示；（iii）完全免責聲明。網站內部所提供的所有資訊，僅限於一般資訊用途。請注意，我們所有的線上交易平台內容並不構成，也不被視為進入金融市場交易的邀約或邀請 。金融市場交易會對您的投資帶來重大風險。
所有缐上交易平台所發佈的資料，僅適用於教育/資訊類用途，不包含也不應被視爲適用於金融、投資稅或交易相關諮詢和建議，或是交易價格紀錄，或是任何金融商品或非應邀途徑的金融相關優惠的交易邀約或邀請。
本網站的所有XM和第三方所提供的内容，包括意見、新聞、研究、分析、價格其他資訊和第三方網站鏈接，皆爲‘按原狀’，並作爲一般市場評論所提供，而非投資建議。請理解和接受，所有被歸類為投資研究範圍的相關内容，並非爲了促進投資研究獨立性，而根據法律要求所編寫，而是被視爲符合營銷傳播相關法律與法規所編寫的内容。請確保您已詳讀並完全理解我們的非獨立投資研究提示和風險提示資訊，相關詳情請點擊 這裡查看。
