At the end of March - beginning of April 2024, news spread on the Internet that the American president proposed celebrating Transgender Visibility Day on Easter Sunday. We decided to check if this is true.
Reports that Joe Biden has declared Easter as Transgender Day of Visibility meet on information And entertaining portals. This news was actively spread by social media users (“VKontakte", X) And blogging platforms. Some sources even claim that the American President banned the Easter tradition. Many popular Telegram channels also published a resonant message: “Live broadcast"(981,000 views at the time of writing this analysis), "Sanya in Florida"(455,000), "Dmitry Nicotin"(411,000), "Fisherman"(294,000), "Observer"(275,000), etc.
On March 29, the White House website published appeal Biden, in which he did declare March 31, 2024, Transgender Day of Visibility. The American president noted that he is proud of the laws and programs adopted by his administration earlier that have made the lives of transgender people in the United States better and safer.
This year it fell on March 31st Easter Sunday - in those movements of Christianity where the Gregorian calendar is used (in particular, in Catholicism and Protestantism, widespread in the United States). That is why his political opponents reacted sharply to Biden’s appeal. Thus, the press secretary of the campaign headquarters of Donald Trump, Biden's rival in the upcoming November elections, Caroline Leavitt called The current president and his administration apologized to millions of American Christians, and also accused him of a “year-long attack on the Christian faith.” Republican Speaker of the House Mike Johnson stated, that the administration of Democrat Biden with this statement “betrayed the main principle of Easter.” Other Republican politicians (for example, Senator from Utah Mike Lee and Senator from Ohio James David Vance).
April 1 on charges reacted at the White House. US presidential spokeswoman Karine Jean-Pierre said: “Every year for the past several years, March 31st has been celebrated as Transgender Day of Visibility. And as we know, for people who understand the calendar and how it works, Easter falls on different Sundays. And this year it coincided with Transgender Day of Visibility.” Jean-Pierre's explanations were also supported by her deputy Andrew Bates, emphasizing that it was not Biden who chose March 31 as Transgender Day of Visibility. Commenting on criticism from Republicans, he also noted, that “politicians seek to divide and weaken our country with violent, hateful and dishonest rhetoric.”
Indeed, Transgender Day of Visibility did not begin to be celebrated in 2024, and the idea did not belong to Biden. In 2009, Rachel Crandall-Crocker, executive director of the advocacy group Transgender Michigan, suggested declare March 31st International Transgender Day of Visibility. In the early years, this idea was supported by only a few other non-profit organizations helping trans people in different cities of the United States, but over time it began to gain popularity. Last year, Biden also joined the initiative - on March 31, 2023, its thematic topic was also published on the White House website appeal.
Neither Western nor Eastern Christianity Easter no clear date. For Catholics, Protestants and other Western denominations, this is the first Sunday after the full moon following March 21 (that is, the vernal equinox), and for Orthodox Christians, it is the first Sunday after the full moon following April 3. These differences in dates are due to the difference between the Julian and Gregorian calendars (old and new style). US Census Bureau calculated dates of Easter celebrations from 1600 to 2099 - in 500 years, on March 31, this holiday falls only 22 times (the next one will be in 2086). Orthodox Christians in 2024 note Easter is May 5, so they were not affected at all by the coincidence that caused such a wide resonance.
On March 31, 2024, the White House website was published Biden's Easter greetings. On the same day, it was held at the White House celebration with all the attributes familiar to Western tradition: painted eggs, rabbits and flowers. President and First Lady contacted Congratulations to those present and all Americans. Probably, the statement for Transgender Visibility Day, despite the date on which it has been celebrated for 15 years, was published two days earlier precisely in order not to “confuse” these two holidays. However, this did not help Biden and his administration avoid criticism.
So Biden did not declare Easter Sunday as Transgender Day of Visibility. It has been celebrated on March 31 for a decade and a half, and Easter falls on different dates every year. In 2024, Easter in Western Christian movements fell on March 31, and it was this coincidence that caused the scandal. Biden, like a year ago, only released his statement in support of American trans people on Transgender Day of Visibility. However, there is no reason to believe that he did this with the intention of downplaying the significance of a religious holiday, offending Christians, and, moreover, replacing Easter on the calendar with Transgender Day of Visibility.
Cover photo: X @POTUS
Read on the topic:
- "Gvara Media". Manipulation. Biden declares Holy Week "Transgender Visibility Day"
- Les Observateurs. Non, Joe Biden n'a pas décrété que la Journée de visibilité transgenre devait être le dimanche de Pâques
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