This Weeks Good News

 

Dr. Rachel Levine was confirmed making her the first openly transgender federal official to win Senate confirmation. Here is the statement she made in response:

"I am honored that the U.S. Senate has voted in favor of my nomination to be Assistant Secretary for Health at the Department of Health and Human Services. I am grateful to President Biden and Vice President Harris for nominating me to this important post. I look forward to working under the leadership of Secretary Becerra and ensuring that we promote policies that advance the health and wellbeing of all Americans.

As I prepare to take my oath of office and begin serving as Assistant Secretary for Health, I would like to take this opportunity to address members of the LGBTQ community. First, thank you. Only through your work and advocacy over many decades is my story possible. I am humbled to be the first transgender individual to serve in a Senate-confirmed position. As Vice President Harris has said, I recognize that I may be the first, but am heartened by the knowledge that I will not be the last. When I assume this position, I will stand on the shoulders of those who came before- people we know throughout history and those whose names we will never know because they were forced to live and work in the shadows.

In particular, I want to address transgender youth. I know that each and every day you confront many difficult challenges. Sadly, some of the challenges you face are from people who would seek to use your identity and circumstance as a weapon. It hurts. I know. I cannot promise you that these attacks will immediately cease, but I will do everything I can to support you and advocate for you. President Obama often reminded us that not all progress goes in a straight line. What I can tell you is that there is a place for you in America and in our government. Our ‘more perfect union’ includes you, too.”

Alan Turing an LGBTQ+ British icon will be the new face on England's £50 note. Alan Turning broke the enigma code, set up many of the foundations for modern day computers, and was persecuted by the government to the point of dying by suicide. 

Recent polls have shown that three-quarters of Americans support LGBTQ nondiscrimination laws. This support is across the political and religious supreme:

Support was strongest among Democrats (85 percent) and independents (79 percent), but it also 
included a majority (62 percent) of Republican

Broad majorities in nearly every religious group favor protections for LGBTQ people, with the largest among white Catholics (77 percent), Mormons (78 percent), Jews (79 percent), Hispanic Catholics (81 percent), white mainline Protestants (82 percent) and the religiously unaffiliated (82 percent).

White evangelical Protestants, the group least likely to favor nondiscrimination laws, endorsed them by nearly 2 to 1 (62 percent to 32 percent).

"The data is clear: the vast majority of Americans support LGBTQ nondiscrimination protections no matter where they live, the party they belong to, or the church they belong to," PRRI research director Natalie Jackson said in a statement.