The president received plenty of social media backlash for his proclamation on Good Friday declaring that March 31 – Easter Sunday – to be "Transgender Day of Visibility 2024" in the United States.
Bauer: A deliberate poke in the eye to Christians
"The White House explanation that the trans visibility holiday is preset to excuse their ham-handedness and all of this, doesn't pass the straight face test. There are literally thousands of things honored in the days of the year. They chose to issue it on Good Friday to be celebrated on Easter Sunday." "What's shocking to me is that in this White House, no one seemed to understand how offensive this would be to millions of Christians in the United States." Gary Bauer |
Christians who celebrate the resurrection of Jesus Christ on Easter Sunday reacted predictably with social media responses. Some of those critical responses came from interesting sources – including one of the nation's most famous transgenders, "Caitlyn" Jenner, the biological male who won gold in the Decathlon in the 1976 Montreal Olympics as Bruce Jenner.
"I am absolutely disgusted that Joe Biden has declared the most holy of Holy days – a self-proclaimed Catholic – as Transgender Day of Visibility. The only thing you should be declaring on this day is 'He is Risen,'" Jenner wrote on X.
In a second post, Jenner responded to White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre – who wrote of the "extraordinary courage" of transgenders – with this: "Hey there … it's called Easter Sunday. The Holiest Day in the Christian faith that BILLIONS of people practice worldwide."
Related article: DC archbishop calls Biden a "cafeteria Catholic'
"There's no coming back from yesterday politically for Biden and the rest of the Democrats," wrote social media strategist and podcast host Joey Mannarino. "I don't care who you are, no one at all thinks it's normal to prioritize a day of celebrating transgenders over the Easter holiday. Not just Christians were disgusted – but everyone of all faiths, and even those without any faith."
In a Monday morning give-and-take with a reporter, President Biden denied having declared Easter Sunday as Transgender Day of Visibility.
Maybe there's fallout, maybe not
Tho Bishop isn't sure political fallout is coming for Biden. The content director for Mises Institute, a conservative thinktank, said on American Family Radio Monday that social issues will be important this election cycle but won't stand alone. The economy will come into play, but so will geography.
"It depends on specific demographics," Bishop explained to show host Jenna Ellis.
"There's this massive, significant swing to the Republican Party for Hispanic voters, whose faith matters to them a great deal. This is where a lot of the cultural insanity of the Democratic Party, this dropping of the masks, the proudly almost satanic ways by which they are treating these issues – this is a major driving force for pushing certain demographics away from the party.
"At the same time, there's been a secularization of large parts of the country where economic conditions are going to matter a great deal," Bishop said.
Non-Christians also offended by Trans Visibility Day
Its impact remains to be seen, but there's no doubt the Transgender Day of Visibility – more specifically its calendar placement – riled up voters and influencers. Even those, as Mannarino points out, from non-Christian faiths.
"Joe Biden declaring the most holy day for Christians as 'Transgender Visibility Day' is a slap in the face to every American, whatever their faith. Now the White House is banning any religious symbolism on Easter eggs. We're in the middle of a war in this country – and take it from a Hindu – this isn't a 'Christian Nationalist' talking point," wrote Vivek Ramaswamy, the former GOP nomination contender.
Indeed, Easter eggs submitted for display at the White House as part of a 'Celebrating National Guard Families' event, must be free of "questionable content, religious symbols, overtly religious themes" and more according to the flyer describing submission guidelines.
Biden, one of the nation's most prominent proclaiming Catholics, spent 633 words describing the significance of Trans Day of Visibility in his proclamation – compared to 94 words on an Easter greeting from First Lady Jill Biden and himself:
"As we gather with loved ones, we remember Jesus' sacrifice. We pray for one another and cherish the blessing of the dawn of new possibilities. And with wars and conflict taking a toll on innocent lives around the world, we renew our commitment to work for peace, security, and dignity for all people."
Bishop said the Left's influence in higher education has grown a segment of voters for which the economic suffering they're experiencing has yet to offset their support for Biden's social agenda.
"The economic conditions are going to matter a great deal, but the Left has done such a great job utilizing higher education, utilizing cultural landmarks with movies and television shows that they have replaced the Christian faith with a set of their own progressive worldviews," he noted. "We saw that in the midterms, right? You had people driving past $5 gas stations to go out and vote because the right to an abortion was more important than their economic hurdles."
He continued: "There are different parts of the electorate. There are those who are motivated mainly by economic distress and rejecting the progressive crusade, but unfortunately parts where the progressive crusade is successful."
Commandeering the calendar
Bishop compared the Left's use of holidays with Roman emperors who were calendar-conscious and used state-sanctioned days of celebration to embed their beliefs within the public mindset.
"The Left has been very effective at both diminishing traditional holidays, whether it's Christmas or Easter or whatever, [and] then replacing them with secular alternatives; whereas the Right has been on retreat with many of these sorts of things," he described.
"This played a role in Juneteenth, making that a federal holiday; something that was a good regional holiday, but with no national significance. [In doing that] the Left put in place a new civil rights holiday which promotes a political agenda that will be taught in the schools.
"In all these aspects, the Left has been much more effective utilizing the levers of power to install these cultural dynamics. There's going to be major fallout with future generations if we do not engage with that," he warned.
Editor's note: According to Fox News, three full months and 28 individual days are set aside on the calendar to highlight the LGBTQ lifestyle
