On her Thursday show on MSNBC, Hallie Jackson asked President Biden’s Assistant Secretary for Health, transgender Adm. Rachel Levine, what the administration is doing to combat Republican efforts to pass allegedly anti-trans laws.
Jackson began by highlighting what the White House had done on “this National Day of Visibility. Really important I think to so many people in the LBTQ+ community, to the trans community. The White House is doing a lot today. I know you're having a conversation with trans kids, with the second gentleman. You've got a visit from Jeopardy! champ Amy Schneider over to the White House. You have Secretary Cardona in Florida today for a roundtable, a state where the governor, as you know, has just signed into law the so-called Don't Say Gay bill.”
Using that dishonest framing, Jackson lamented that, “just this year, as we laid out in the introduction, more than 30 state legislatures are talking about passing anti-trans bills or laws” and wondered “As a doctor, as a member of the trans community, can you talk about what else can be done on the federal level by the Biden administration, right? As you're seeing some of these actions on the state level.”
Jackson made it seem as if these laws are tantamount to child abuse when all they seem to do is protect the integrity of women’s sports, don’t allow adults to affirm childhood beliefs about gender identity, or ensure that adults don’t encourage minors to make life-changing decisions about their bodies.
For Levine, those are still extreme measures, “Well, it is so wonderful that we have a president, President Biden, who supports us and advocates for us and who sees us. And he has articulated many times, including with—with-- an announcement today about his support for the transgender community and particularly his support for vulnerable transgender youth.”
Throughout the entire interview, Jackson asked only softballs because for her, compassion is uncritically accepting whatever Levine has to say, not considering the obvious downsides to accepting a child’s view of reality.
This segment was sponsored by Sleep Number.
Here is a transcript for the March 31 show:
MSNBC Hallie Jackson Reports
3/31/2022
3:47 PM ET
HALLIE JACKSON: Okay. Let me ask you about this National Day of Visibility. Really important I think to so many people in the LBTQ+ community, to the trans community. The White House is doing a lot today. I know you're having a conversation with trans kids, with the second gentleman. You've got a visit from Jeopardy! champ Amy Schneider over to the White House. You have Secretary Cardona in Florida today for a roundtable, a state where the governor, as you know, has just signed into law the so-called Don't Say Gay bill. We're in this point now in this country where almost half of Americans know somebody who is transgender or who goes by gender neutral pronouns. But just this year, as we laid out in the introduction, more than 30 state legislatures are talking about passing anti-trans bills or laws. As a doctor, as a member of the trans community, can you talk about what else can be done on the federal level by the Biden administration, right? As you're seeing some of these actions on the state level.
RACHEL LEVINE: Well, it is so wonderful that we have a president, President Biden, who supports us and advocates for us and who sees us. And he has articulated many times, including with—with-- an announcement today about his support for the transgender community and particularly his support for vulnerable transgender youth. So that support is being demonstrated throughout the administration with Secretary Becerra of Health and Human Services, as you said Secretary Cardona of—of—of-- Education, and so you know, this event at the White House further demonstrates the support for the -- of the president and the administration for vulnerable transgender individuals.
