The White House celebrates Pride: We’ve got the skinny!
Alright, fam. Pride this year has been a bit rocky for our LGBTQ family around the world, but today we’re bringing you some good news. This past week, the US federal government celebrated Pride 2022 with an honorary dinner at the White House.
To our knowledge, the White House has not been illuminated in Pride colors like it was when Obama was president, but this is definitely a far cry better than what happened when Trump was in power.
Members of the LGBTQ community were invited to the White House to break bread, discuss the crucial issues the community is facing, and witness the federal government finally taking a step in the right direction when it comes to protecting American members of the community.
It was at this dinner that President Biden discussed an executive order that has since been signed into effect that effectively bans federal money from being used for conversion therapy practices for LGBTQ Americans nationally.
It’s better late than never. The executive order demands that the Department of Health and Human Services administer rules that ban the use of federal dollars anywhere in the country to programs and organizations that are practicing conversion therapy. So while it doesn’t actually mean that conversion therapy is now illegal in the United States, anyone who uses federal dollars to engage in such activities will be held accountable.
At the dinner, in addition to the President addressing the attendees, openly gay and married Transportation Secretary Pete Bittigieg was in attendance, as well as the First Lady, Jill Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris, and the Second Gentleman were also in attendance.
The Floridian teenager who was instrumental in organizing the statewide student walkout in protest of the Don’t Say Gay legislation also had a brief moment to shine and was handed the microphone as well.
Apart from the fact that it’s Pride month, this dinner was very much needed at this time. The LGBTQ youth in the United States are under attack right now from right-wing conservatives trying to erase queerness everywhere, but especially within the queer youth demographic.
President Biden stood on stage during his acceptance speech when he was announced as the new President of this country and said that he was going to do everything he could to protect the LGBTQ community in this country. While this executive order is not epic in terms of its consequences, it is definitely needed more than ever.
