The White House Gender Policy Council co-chairs has released a statement committing to uplift women and girls especially throughout the effects of the global pandemic, but show preference to members of the LGBT community as part of the female category.
International Women's Day saw President Joe Biden launching the White House Gender Policy Council, an entity defined as one that will "instill, advance, and oversee [the Biden administration's] commitment to a government-wide approach to gender equity and equality."
Its co-chairs are Jennifer Klein, International Center for Research on Women (ICRW) and Brown University School of Public Health advisory council member, and attorney and diplomat Julissa Reynoso, chief of staff First Lady Jill Biden. In a statement dated March 12, the pair outlined their plans for the White House Gender Policy Council.
Klein and Reynoso shared how they intend to provide a "government-wide strategy for advancing gender equity and gender equality," which will include "for advancing gender equity and gender equality." However, it seems that the Biden White House Gender Policy Council are looking to cluster members of the LGBT community into the "female" category.
According to Klein and Reynoso's statement, the Gender Policy Council will work closely with the Department of Justice's Office on Violence Against Women to "end gender-based violence against women, girls, and LGBTQ+ people."
Klein and Reynoso's statement also showed how the Biden White House Gender Policy Council will work with the Department of Education to come up with strategies to "combat systemic bias, and ensure that all young people-including girls and LGBTQ+ youth-can be guaranteed education free from sexual violence."
As to why the Gender Policy Council is clustering LGBT with women and girls in their statements is strange, especially after the White House showed openness to adding a third gender option to federal identification documents.
According to FaithWire, President Biden's spokesperson Matt Hill confirmed that the administration "remains committed to advancing state and federal efforts that allow transgender and non-binary Americans to update their identification documents to accurately reflect their gender identity."
When asked if President Biden had plans to pass this into law, Klein said that they are "very inclusive in our definition of 'gender' and we intend to address all sorts of discrimination and fight for equal rights for people, whether that's LGBTQ+ people, women, girls, men."
Klein added that at the moment, she is unsure if a policy that enables a third gender option in federal identification documents needs an executive order. Some states, including Washington D.C., already have laws in place that allow for individuals to choose a third option for some identifying documents such as birth certificates and driver's licenses. Citizens may, however, ask to have this changed if they can provide the medical certificates that prove they had transitioned from one sex to the other, as per The New York Times.
In the move to further push the Equality act, the Biden White House Gender Policy Council promised that they are "building a big table because the moment calls for it."
