Admiral Rachel L. Levine, pictured at HHS headquarters final 12 months, led the Public Well being Corps through the Biden administration. Her official portrait was modified throughout the federal government shutdown to her earlier identify.
Maansi Srivastava for NPR
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Maansi Srivastava for NPR
As you stroll down a selected hallway on the seventh ground of the Humphrey Constructing in Washington, D.C., you may discover a line of photographic portraits of all of the individuals from years previous who’ve led the Public Well being Corps on the federal Division of Well being and Human Companies.
Solely a kind of portraits is of a transgender individual: Adm. Rachel Levine, who served for 4 years as President Biden’s assistant secretary for well being. She was the primary transgender individual to win Senate affirmation, and her portrait has been displayed within the hallway since quickly after she was confirmed in 2021. The function is a four-star admiral place in control of the Commissioned Corps of the U.S. Public Well being Service.
Levine’s official portrait was not too long ago altered, a spokesperson for HHS confirmed to NPR. A digital {photograph} of the portrait within the hallway obtained by NPR exhibits that Levine’s earlier identify is now typed under the portrait, underneath the glass of the body.
Levine responds
“In the course of the federal shutdown, the present management of the Workplace of the Assistant Secretary for Well being modified Admiral Levine’s picture to take away her present authorized identify and use a previous identify,” says Adrian Shanker, former deputy assistant secretary for well being coverage within the Biden administration who labored with Levine and is now her spokesperson. He referred to as the transfer an act “of bigotry in opposition to her.”
Adm. Rachel Levine’s official portrait has hung in a hallway of the headquarters of HHS since shortly after she was confirmed by the Senate in 2021.
Chris Sean Smith/U.S. Public Well being Service Commissioned Corps
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Chris Sean Smith/U.S. Public Well being Service Commissioned Corps
Levine instructed NPR that it was an honor to serve the American individuals because the assistant secretary for well being “and I am not going to touch upon this kind of petty motion.”
HHS assertion
NPR requested HHS who made the change and why. In response, HHS spokesperson Andrew Nixon wrote: “Our precedence is making certain that the knowledge introduced internally and externally by HHS displays gold normal science. We stay dedicated to reversing dangerous insurance policies enacted by Levine and making certain that organic actuality guides our strategy to public well being.”
The present assistant secretary for well being is Adm. Brian Christine, a urologist from Alabama who was confirmed by the Senate in October.
An HHS workers member who requested not be recognized for concern {of professional} retribution referred to as the change “disrespectful” and added that it exemplifies “the erasure of transgender people by this administration.”
In the course of the 2024 marketing campaign, President Trump and different Republicans spent hundreds of thousands on anti-transgender adverts, a few of which featured Levine’s picture.
Since taking workplace, Trump has moved aggressively to curtail the rights of transgender and intersex individuals by many federal businesses, together with the Departments of Well being, Justice, Schooling, and others. On the Pentagon, transgender servicemembers have been pressured out of the army with out advantages. On the Division of State, decades-old passport insurance policies have been reversed. The president usually describes transgender individuals as a hazard to society.
Shanker says the alteration of Levine’s official portrait is unprecedented. He praised her public well being work on COVID-19, syphilis, HIV/AIDS and opioids, and stated relatively than act vindictively in direction of her, present leaders at HHS ought to deal with the numerous public well being challenges going through the American individuals.
