Today, President Biden announced a series of actions the Administration will take to fight for LGBTQ+ people’s rights in America.
Lambda Legal CEO Kevin Jennings released the following statement:
“At a time of unprecedented and sustained attacks on LGBTQ+ communities and people living with HIV, and in particular transgender youth, the Biden-Harris Administration today has reiterated its strong commitment to the mental and physical health and safety of LGBTQ+ people. When so many want to deny our existence, the administration instead chooses to celebrate Pride with us and pledges to combat efforts to force us back into the closet.
We are thrilled to see examples of concrete steps to improve the wellbeing of LGBTQ+ youth such as the Family Support Grant from SAMHSA. Efforts to build parental support improve public health outcomes for youth and reduce family rejection, a leading contributor to the over-representation of LGBTQ+ in foster care, juvenile justice systems, and among youth experiencing homelessness. Rulemaking to explicitly protect youth in the foster care system, robust protection for all youth and families receiving critical human services through government-funded programs, and additional support for LGBTQ+ youth experiencing homelessness are essential to address long-standing disparities and reduce harm from the recent wave of anti-LGBTQ+ laws and policies. We look forward to working with federal agencies to achieve these laudable goals, identify threats, combat hostile school environments, and ensure that transgender youth have access to medically necessary and scientifically proven healthcare coverage. The struggle for full-lived equality has always been difficult, but the Administration today has made it clear it has our back and we look forward to seeing these promises fulfilled.”