Biden proclaims this Easter as Trans Day of Visibility

[Ken]

So even though they're not biblical, you nevertheless recognize their importance and celebrate them accordingly?

Of course. But I don't look for my government to endorse my religious observations or beliefs one way or the other. When it comes to holidays or anything else.

Neither do I look for a presidential endorsement of my celebration of Easter and Christmas. That's not exactly my point. I ask all this because whenever these types of discussions come up you make it sure to point out that our Christian celebrations of the Birth and Resurrection are neither Biblical nor particularly Christian in origin. Yet you admit that you do indeed celebrate them and see them as important.

Thus I ask myself: Why do you throw that information out there if you yourself see it as not terribly relevant to your own observance and solemnization of those celebrations? I don't know for certain your motivations; it could be you're trying to goad or troll people you see as hopelessly tradition-bound and therefore unenlightened in the historical criticism of everything "Christian". Or it could be that you think by pointing out the non-biblical, non-Christian origins of said celebrations you can take a lot of the "durm und strang" out of the arguments of these benighted, backward reactionaries. You can and will (I'm sure) tell me I'm wrong.

Regardless, your motivations I think you're missing the point. Grace (and others) are not alarmed exactly by the fact that Mr. Biden failed to treat March 31st as exclusively special because of Easter. It makes no difference to her Easter celebration - just like the fact that it may or may not have been placed in the calendar because of some ancient pagan equinoctial practices (and here I think the scholarship is a touch thin which again says more about your motivations for mentioning it in the first place) make no earthly difference to her celebration of the Resurrection of Our Lord. What Grace is doing is noticing. Noticing how strange it is that we have days in our secular, liturgical calendar (145 I believe) devoted to celebrating sexuality and the transgression of gender norms. Days, that until recently did not exist and that take place of pride (I use that word advisedly) alongside religious celebrations that have a nearly 2000 year history. Thus, when a modern president treats both as equally important via his powers of proclamation; those with eyes to see, sit up and take notice. What does it mean when the president devotes as much energy to writing a milquetoast, half-hearted, Happy Easter card as he does to tweeting out "I see you" for the some of the most visible people in the world? It means to me that sexuality and gender transgressions are the new and latest secular religion and thus just as much a potential idol and pitfall as money, power, materialism, etc. It's not just a question of "Christians butting out of people's lives" rather it's recognizing that there is sea-change occurring and we as Christians need to be wise as foxes in our navigation of that change.

I generally think the government should stay out of the business of endorsing specific religions or religious practices. But I also recognize that we don't live a secular world. Politicians are going to do public Easter greetings and Christmas greetings as well as Hannukah greetings and do Eid al-Fitr and Ramadan greetings, God is mentioned on our currency, the military and institutions like Congress have official chaplains, and so forth. As far as I'm concerned it is all fine and fairly trivial as long as it doesn't become coercive. We don't live in a black and white world. We do, however live in a diverse and multi-ethnic world in which no one group has the right to claim exclusivity to things like public space or a date on a public calendar.

And if you think presidents are personally composing any of the tens of thousands of official proclamations, announcements, documents, and communications that come out of the White House on a constant basis then you have no idea how government actually works. At best Biden has a stack of papers to sign every morning that he barely has time to even glance at. But a lot of it probably just comes out of the White House Communications office without his personal signature. In any organization, authority and duties are delegated. He has far bigger issues to concern himself with than the minutia of official protocol.

[Bootstrap]

Regardless, your motivations I think you're missing the point. Grace (and others) are not alarmed exactly by the fact that Mr. Biden failed to treat March 31st as exclusively special because of Easter.

Biden didn't set this date, some external group has been proclaiming this as March 31st for 15 years or so.

I don't like government officially endorsing trans, but I think some of this is being over-hyped. Including the title - Biden did not say "I want us to celebrate this Easter as Trans Day of Visibility." Biden's staff probably didn't even notice that the date corresponds to Easter this year. This was one of how many "proclamations" issued the same day?

[temporal1]

SUNDAY

Perhaps it is instructive to do a direct apples to apples comparison of the public Easter greetings posted by Biden and Trump today.


and

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And yes, for the grammatists here, that was all one single breathless run-on sentence. In all-caps too. Impressive.

LATER:
WEDNESDAY

And if you think presidents are personally composing any of the tens of thousands of official proclamations, announcements, documents, and communications that come out of the White House on a constant basis then you have no idea how government actually works. At best Biden has a stack of papers to sign every morning that he barely has time to even glance at. But a lot of it probably just comes out of the White House Communications office without his personal signature. In any organization, authority and duties are delegated. He has far bigger issues to concern himself with than the minutia of official protocol.

The problem with the internet is, publication can be quicker than human thought processing.

[HondurasKeiser]

Regardless, your motivations I think you're missing the point. Grace (and others) are not alarmed exactly by the fact that Mr. Biden failed to treat March 31st as exclusively special because of Easter.

Biden didn't set this date, some external group has been proclaiming this as March 31st for 15 years or so. Biden's staff probably didn't even notice that the date corresponds to Easter this year. This was one of how many "proclamations" issued the same day?

I don't like government officially endorsing trans, but I think some of this is being over-hyped.

Right, I largely agree but again this is missing the point a little. The fact that a Day of Trans Visibility is on the calendar for presidential proclamations is itself telling and an indicator of where the culture is. That I think was the point of the OP.

[temporal1]

Regardless, your motivations I think you're missing the point. Grace (and others) are not alarmed exactly by the fact that Mr. Biden failed to treat March 31st as exclusively special because of Easter.

Biden didn't set this date, some external group has been proclaiming this as March 31st for 15 years or so. Biden's staff probably didn't even notice that the date corresponds to Easter this year. This was one of how many "proclamations" issued the same day?

I don't like government officially endorsing trans, but I think some of this is being over-hyped.

Right, I largely agree but again this is missing the point a little. The fact that a Day of Trans Visibility is on the calendar for presidential proclamations is itself telling and an indicator of where the culture is. That I think was the point of the OP.

Making a point about any of the several “days” ON EASTER would have raised eyebrows. The press knew this. It was deliberate.
Witness how Ramadan is respected. It’s fun+games to troll and harass Christians. Known for turning the other cheek.

[ohio jones]

In any organization, authority and duties are delegated. He has far bigger issues to concern himself with than the minutia of official protocol.

While this is true, he would be well advised to be cognizant of how the things done in his name are perceived by sizable sectors of the (potentially voting) public. He can give broad directives to his staff that convey his values without getting involved in minutia. In fact, I suspect that's exactly what he has done. But the buck stops with him, even if it identifies as a doe.

[Ken]

In any organization, authority and duties are delegated. He has far bigger issues to concern himself with than the minutia of official protocol.

While this is true, he would be well advised to be cognizant of how the things done in his name are perceived by sizable sectors of the (potentially voting) public. He can give broad directives to his staff that convey his values without getting involved in minutia. In fact, I suspect that's exactly what he has done. But the buck stops with him, even if it identifies as a doe.

I think they are very conscious that there is a whole right-wing Wurlitzer outrage machine operating in this country that will distort and lie about anything they say. And that will gin up fake controversies out of thin air on a daily and weekly basis since cable news has to fill air time 24/7/365 and outrage always sells and keeps people engaged. Witness how many comments are on this thread.

And so the White House just goes about their business and run things as they think should be done, part of which means recognizing a vast and diverse number of different groups, all of whom are American. The number of people who care about this sort of minutia and pretend to be outraged in the media is tiny and for the most part aren't persuadable anyway.

Next year Easter falls on April 20, which is 4/20 which coincidentally International Weed Day. Google it if you don't know what I'm talking about. Is Fox News going to gin up a whole bunch of controversy about how pot smokers are disrespecting Easter? Probably. If Biden is still in office I doubt they will issue an official proclamation but that won't matter because FOx will just link back to Democratic support for pot legalization and run with it anyway.

Here is an example of how outrage is manufactured. Side by side video showing how Fox News selectively edited the White House comments on this topic in which it was pointed out that Fox News itself publicly acknowledged the day back in 2021 back in the before times before trans became the conservative outrage of the day.

[Bootstrap]

Next year Easter falls on April 20, which is 4/20 which coincidentally International Weed Day.

Sure. If Biden or Trump issues a presidential proclamation for International Weed Day next year, that would bother me. Not because they invented International Weed Day, it's been around for a long time. And I don't think they chose the date because of Easter, but I don't think a president should endorse weed.

[Ken]

Next year Easter falls on April 20, which is 4/20 which coincidentally International Weed Day.

Sure. If Biden or Trump issues a presidential proclamation for International Weed Day next year, that would bother me. Not because they invented International Weed Day, it's been around for a long time. And I don't think they chose the date because of Easter, but I don't think a president should endorse weed.

It won't matter what the Administration does or doesn't do. If Fox wants to invent a controversy about it they will. They will just link the Administration support for decriminalization or pot legalization, connect that to 4/20 and they will be off and running about disrespecting Easter with the outrage meter pegged to 11.

[Bootstrap]

Next year Easter falls on April 20, which is 4/20 which coincidentally International Weed Day.

Sure. If Biden or Trump issues a presidential proclamation for International Weed Day next year, that would bother me. Not because they invented International Weed Day, it's been around for a long time. And I don't think they chose the date because of Easter, but I don't think a president should endorse weed.

It won't matter what the Administration does or doesn't do. If Fox wants to invent a controversy about it they will. They will just link the Administration support for decriminalization or pot legalization, connect that to 4/20 and they will be off and running about disrespecting Easter with the outrage meter pegged to 11.

Whether Fox does that depends a great deal on who wins the next presidential election.

But I still don't want a president to endorse weed.