Biden Administration’s New Pronoun Policy Sparks Controversy

(NewsReady.com) – The issue of gender identity has been at the forefront of conversations about social issues. Conservatives have pushed back against the Left’s attempt to force everyone to accept it. Last month, President Joe Biden’s administration issued new guidance. An official who worked for former President Donald Trump believes the policy violates the First Amendment.

The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) sent a memo out to employees informing them of a new “Gender Non-Discrimination and Inclusion Policy.” Roger Severino, the former head of civil rights at HHS during Trump’s administration, was the first to share it. He posted a photo of the email on X, formerly Twitter.

HHS today imposed a transgender pronoun mandate on its employees who will now be forced to deny biological realities with their own words or face firing. Those with faith objections should immediately request religious accommodation and prepare to fight for your rights. pic.twitter.com/VW696MnE3y

— Roger Severino (@RogerSeverino_) October 11, 2023

The policy requires all employees to call transgender colleagues by the pronouns and names that they use to describe themselves. The department also outlined how HHS employees could change their names for the agency’s official records. In a video posted on YouTube, HHS Deputy Secretary Andrea Palm said the policy will allow their colleagues “to show up every day as their whole selves.” While she spoke about accepting trans colleagues, she never mentioned accommodating employees who have religious objections to the ideology.

Severino claimed the First Amendment protects federal employees from being required to deny their own faith and speak falsehoods. By forcing HHS employees to call transgender people by names and pronouns that are different from what they were assigned at birth, he says the federal agency would violate those rights.

The former Trump official told religious employees they should “immediately request religious accommodation” and prepare themselves to fight for their First Amendment rights. He accused the Biden Administration of “requiring pure ideological conformity” and said he wants to see how tolerant HHS will be when employees of faith try to opt out of the policy.