Biden proclaims this Easter as Trans Day of Visibility

[ohio jones]

But when asked by reporters on Monday about his official White House proclamation declaring the same day as Easter this year, as Transgender Day of Visibility, he said “I didn’t do that”.

A new use for the old stickers?

[JohnHurt]

And that most of what passes for religious holidays in this country are not even Biblical anyway. Certainly not celebrating Christmas on December 25th. Or celebrating Easter on the first Sunday after the first full Moon that occurs on or after the vernal equinox.

Ken,

That is a brilliant observation.

Now if we could only apply it.

[HondurasKeiser]

My point is that we live in a secular society and have a secular government. And that most of what passes for religious holidays in this country are not even Biblical anyway. Certainly not celebrating Christmas on December 25th. Or celebrating Easter on the first Sunday after the first full Moon that occurs on or after the vernal equinox.

Ken, when do you celebrate Christmas and Easter?

[Ken]

My point is that we live in a secular society and have a secular government. And that most of what passes for religious holidays in this country are not even Biblical anyway. Certainly not celebrating Christmas on December 25th. Or celebrating Easter on the first Sunday after the first full Moon that occurs on or after the vernal equinox.

Ken, when do you celebrate Christmas and Easter?

Same day as everyone else. But I recognize they are just tradition and not Biblically accurate. And I just don’t pretend to be upset that Easter shared a date with Caesar Chavez day this year and will again sometime in the 2080s.

[HondurasKeiser]

My point is that we live in a secular society and have a secular government. And that most of what passes for religious holidays in this country are not even Biblical anyway. Certainly not celebrating Christmas on December 25th. Or celebrating Easter on the first Sunday after the first full Moon that occurs on or after the vernal equinox.

Ken, when do you celebrate Christmas and Easter?

Same day as everyone else. I just don’t pretend to be upset that it shared a date with Caesar Chavez day this year and will again sometime in the 2080s.

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

[Grace]

Biden made the proclamation last Friday, “I, Joseph R. Biden … do hereby proclaim March 31, 2024, as Transgender Day of Visibility,”


But when asked by reporters on Monday about his official White House proclamation declaring the same day as Easter this year, as Transgender Day of Visibility, he said “I didn’t do that”. That statement begs the question, was that another lie? Did he forget? Or did a puppeteer write the proclamation.

https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-roo ... lity-2024/

President Biden also appointed transgender Richard Levine as Assistant Secretary of Health and gay Pete Buttigieg as Transportation Secretary. Mr Levine would be the last person I would trust as a "health" secretary. He needs psychiatric intervention.

Richard/Rachel Levine was Pennsylvania's Governor Wolf's Health Secretary during Covid. Governor Wolf had some stringent regulations for some businesses/places, (but not for close friends and family businesses). All the while Richard/Rachel Levine was telling Pennsylvanians to "follow the science" of Covid and the need for vaccines. Something I thought was ironic beings obviously He/She wasn't following "Science" when He/She changed her biological gender. Governor Wolf forced nursing homes to take Covid patients after hospital stays, and I know of one instance, where half a nursing home residency was wiped out from Covid. Ironically just before Gov. Wolf made that decree, Dr. Levine moved His/Her mother from a elderly care facility to the cushy Hershey Hotel.

Off topic, I know. Carry on.

[Ken]

Ken, when do you celebrate Christmas and Easter?

Same day as everyone else. I just don’t pretend to be upset that it shared a date with Caesar Chavez day this year and will again sometime in the 2080s.

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.

[HondurasKeiser]

Same day as everyone else. I just don’t pretend to be upset that it shared a date with Caesar Chavez day this year and will again sometime in the 2080s.

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.

[barnhart]

HK, what do you think it means in actual terms to be wise as foxes in a sea of change.

[HondurasKeiser]

HK, what do you think it means in actual terms to be wise as foxes in a sea of change.

For our family it means that my wife and I are privy to these changes and conversant with them and then how much or how little we allow our children to be exposed to them and at what age. At our church it means being conversant about the new ways of speaking and thinking about gender and sexuality (and why it is we don't speak like the world does) while at the same time not losing sight of the humanity of the people that we're speaking about. That's a start, I guess.