The White House on Thursday unveiled a series of measures from various federal agencies intended to support LGBTQ communities and counteract actions in GOP-led legislatures targeting transgender youth and other minority groups.
Administration officials detailed new efforts in the Department of Education, Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and other agencies to provide housing support and push back on book bans that disproportionately affect LGBTQ youth.
The announcement comes as President Biden is set to host a large Pride month celebration on the South Lawn of the White House on Thursday evening.
Neera Tanden, head of the White House Domestic Policy Council, said Thursday’s event will be the “largest Pride celebration in White House history, with LGBTQ families from across the country demonstrating that LGBTQ people belong in the people’s house.”
As part of its Pride month initiatives, the White House is launching a new partnership led by the Department of Homeland Security to work with LGBTQ community organizations to provide them with safety training and resources. The program will help centers prepare for training in the event of bomb threats, active shooters and cybersecurity risks, Tanden said, acknowledging the risks LGBTQ community centers face.
HUD is set to announce a new initiative to address youth LGBTQ homelessness, Tanden said, and the Department of Health and Human Services will pursue new regulations to protect LGBTQ kids in foster care to ensure they have access to safe and appropriate placement.
The Department of Education is also set to announce plans to appoint a dedicated coordinator to deal with a growing number of book bans at the state level. Those book bans in places like Florida have disproportionately affected the LGBTQ community and communities of color, officials said, carrying negative impacts on the mental health of students.
The coordinator, who will operate out of the department’s Office of Civil Rights, will be focused on providing training to schools nationwide and monitoring whether book bans create a hostile environment for certain groups of students, which would potentially violate civil rights laws, officials said.
Administration officials noted that the additional resources for the LGBTQ community have become increasingly necessary as the group has been targeted with violence and with legislative efforts to roll back their rights.
Tanden said roughly a dozen states have passed more than 50 laws this year alone targeting LGBTQ rights, with Republicans particularly focused on blocking access to gender-affirming care for transgender youth and legislating whether transgender youth can participate in competitive sports.
The White House also pointed to a slew of actions President Biden has taken while in office to affirm and defend the rights of the LGBTQ community, including signing the Respect for Marriage Act, appointing a historic number of LGBTQ individuals to administration posts and reversing a ban on transgender individuals serving in the military.