Joe Biden's proclamation of Easter Sunday as the Transgender Day of Visibility was no accident, and the response that the day is always set for March 31 is unacceptable, a leading theologian says. The presidential proclamation was released on Good Friday, and the social media backlash from Christians was swift.
The administration could see the conflict with the holy Christian observance coming on the calendar yet chose not to prevent it – a decision that irked David Closson with Family Research Council.
"That's a big part of the story because absolutely the White House … knew well in advance [that] this was going to fall on Easter, and their defense has been, 'Well, we've always done this.' Well, that's true – for the last three years they've done this. It's of course the only time an administration has ever done this," Closson, director for the FRC's Center for Biblical Worldview, said on Washington Watch Wednesday.
The International Transgender Day of Visibility has in fact claimed March 31 as its celebratory day since its inception in 2009. Sources tell AFN the celebration of Christ's resurrection predates 2009.
Neither the Obama nor Trump administrations observed Transgender Day of Visibility.
The Biden administration's effort to elevate Transgender Day to the status of Easter represents the Left's "colonization of the calendar," Closson told show host Jody Hice.
"When you think about a culture, about a society, ancient Israel [for example] would structure their year around the three pilgrimages you would make to Jerusalem. You think about our culture, our society: Christmas, Thanksgiving and Easter – how we orient ourselves around our liturgies, our practices and our family gatherings. The holidays that a culture recognizes tell you a lot about a given culture," he shared.
"We need to realize what's happening here," Closson continued. "Those who are driving the moral revolution realize that holidays – the days we set aside for recognition – matter. They [show] what is right and wrong in a people. The Left [is] trying to really colonize the calendar. Instead of celebrating Christmas and Easter, [they say] we're going to celebrate these other holidays based on gender, based on ideology."
In some ways, Transgender Day of Visibility faced a recognition dilemma in trying to find space on the calendar. More than 100 observance days are devoted to LGBTQ+ culture and causes, including the entire month of June to celebrate "Pride" in the movement, according to The Family Research Council.
Observances = policy
Closson urges Christians not to be so quick to dismiss these observances as insignificant. Presidential proclamations indicate where an administration is placing time and resources, he said.
"It telegraphs that the priorities of evangelical Christians, of conservative Catholics, are really not the priorities of this White House," he noted. "To their credit, so to speak … if you just look at what [this administration has] done the last couple of years, the policies they've promoted [are] much more aligned with people who would care about a Transgender Day of Visibility than with people who would probably observe Easter."
He cited the administration's push of the Equality Act as an example.
The Equality Act is a bill in Congress that if passed would amend the Civil Rights Act of 1964 to prohibit discrimination on the basis of sex, sexual orientation and gender identity. In theory, failing to use someone's preferred pronouns or parents teaching a foster child the biblical definition of marriage could be punishable by law.
"Two summers ago, 99 American embassies around the world flew rainbow flags and 132 embassies around the world put out statements commemorating June as Pride Month, including embassies in states that are very socially conservative. It just shows it's kind of an ideological imperialism that's driving this White House," Closson said.
And again, Closson emphasized the Biden White House "absolutely knew" what they were doing. "You can push against biology, you can push against nature, you can push against these things with your ideology – but the more you push for visibility, increasingly it's backfiring," he stated.
White House doesn't care, but public does
Closson also claims the social media response to Transgender Day of Visibility is another example of the administration's wrong read on the public's eagerness to embrace such policies. The question is: Do they care? Closson is sure they do not.
"I don't think they cared, but this isn't working the way they thought it would work," he said, offering another example. "… Europe was ahead of the United States in some of these experimental cross-sex hormones, puberty blockers and surgeries for minor children. [But] England earlier this year announced that they were shutting down one of the main clinics that was doing these experimental procedures on minors.
"In this country," he continued, "we've seen over the last year or two the dozens of states that are putting protections in place to protect minor children against these experimental surgeries [and] to protect women from biological men going into female-only spaces.
"… The more everyday Americans learn about this agenda [pushing so-called 'visibility'], the more they say this isn't anything we actually want," Closson concluded.
