Before a press conference on coronavirus in Harrisburg on Tuesday, Pennsylvania Health Secretary Rachel Levine responded to a series of transphobic attacks directed at her.
“While these people may think they are just expressing their discontent with me, in fact, they are hurting the thousands of Pennsylvania LGBTQ residents who directly suffered from these current manifestations of bullying,” Levine began, according to PennLive.com.
Among the anti-trans incidents were a man who dressed like Levine for a dip tank at a local fair, an out-of-color menu item mocking Levine in a tavern, and a radio announcer who repeatedly called Levine. ” sir “during an interview.
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“Their actions perpetuate the spirit of bigotry and discrimination against LGBTQ people, and specifically transgender people,” Levine said of the incidents. Social media has also been riddled with transphobic comments about the secretary.
Levine is one of the nation’s top transgender government officials, according to WCAU-TV in Philadelphia.
“We have not progressed unless we have all progressed,” he added. “It is in this space where these acts of intolerance live, and where we must continue working against them.”
Levine said he would accept sincere apologies, but added that they are only the beginning of the conversation.
Pennsylvania Secretary of Health Dr. Rachel Levine speaks to journalists in Harrisburg, Pa., May 29, 2020. (Associated Press)
She also thanked Pennsylvania Governor Tom Wolf, the Democrat who appointed her, for her support and the progress she said the LGBTQ community has made under her administration, according to PennLive.
Levine, one of the main faces of the Pennsylvania coronavirus response, has come under fire during the outbreak. A few months ago, she moved her 95-year-old mother from a nursing home while saying that others could return to nursing homes after recovering from the virus.
“My mother requested and my sister and I, like her children, agreed to move her to another location during the COVID-19 outbreak,” Levine said in May.
More recently, state Republicans criticized her for not attending a hearing by restaurant owners asking for financial support, according to KDKA-TV in Pittsburgh.
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“Why not show up and answer our questions?” State Representative Martin Causer, R-Coudersport, chairman of the state House of Representatives Republican Policy Committee, asked the station. “Why not sit in front of this House committee and talk about the Governor’s order and answer members’ questions?”
