Transgender ‘Jeopardy!’ winner visits White House
“Jeopardy!” champion Amy Schneider, the first openly transgender winner on the popular quiz show, visited the White House Thursday to meet with Second Gentleman Doug Emhoff.
Ms. Schneider, who is an advocate for transgender visibility and inclusion, told reporters “I’m just really, really honored to be here and really grateful that this is being celebrated and the trans people are being celebrated in in a place like this.”
Schneider has touched the lives of millions of Americans who got to know her on national television and said she hopes her visit to the White House will help to diminish the fear and myths of transgender people.
“I think just the same thing that I’ve been accomplishing, which is just again being a trans person out there that isn’t monstrous and isn’t threatening, and it’s just a normal person like we all are. So, the more that people like me can be seen, the harder it is to sustain the myths that are that are kind of driving a lot of this, this hate and fear.”
She will meet with the Emhoff to discuss the importance of advancing transgender visibility and equality, and she will celebrate the announcements the White House is making today to ensure transgender people have the freedom, dignity, and support they need to thrive.
President Joe Biden said Thursday that his administration is “standing up” for transgender Americans against “hateful bills” being passed at the state level and that he is committed to advancing equality across society.
Biden commented in a brief video message commemorating Transgender Day of Visibility.
“The onslaught of anti-transgender state laws attacking you and your families is simply wrong,” Biden said in the video. “This administration is standing up for you against all these hateful bills. And we’re committed to advancing transgender equality in the classroom, on the playing field, at work, in our military and our housing and health care systems.”
“Everywhere. Simply everywhere,” Biden said.
Schneider when asked about the prevailing anti-transgender state laws seen around the nation, said: “They’re really scary and some of them in particular that are denying medical services to trans youth. Those are, those are lifesaving medical treatments, and they will, you know, these bills will cause the deaths of children. And that’s really sad to me, and it’s really frightening.”
Emhoff and Admiral Rachel Levine, the assistant secretary for health at the Department of Health and Human Services, separately will host a conversation with transgender kids and their parents.
Levine is the first openly transgender federal official to be confirmed by the Senate.
The administration announced several actions to make the federal government more inclusive for transgender people.
The steps come as Republican leaders have advanced state measures targeting transgender people as part of a broader push to stoke culture wars heading into a critical election season.
The administration said the federal government will become more inclusive for transgender people, including through the use of a new “X” gender marker on U.S. passport applications, beginning on April 11, and new Transportation Security Administration scanners that are gender-neutral.
It is working to expand the availability of the “X” gender marker to airlines and federal travel programs and will make it easier for transgender people to change their gender information in Social Security Administration records.
Schneider won a historic 40-game streak on Jeopardy! the second longest win streak in show history and becoming its first openly transgender winner.
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