Fox News and other right-wing outlets and commentators are having a total meltdown this week after Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Assistant Secretary Rachel Levine declared it the “Summer of Pride.”
“Happy Pride! Happy Pride Month, and actually — let’s declare it a summer of Pride. Happy Summer of Pride,” Levine said in a video posted on the official HHS Instagram account.
Levine, who is currently the highest-ranking openly transgender official in the U.S. government, noted on Twitter that HHS will be “celebrating” Pride “all summer long.”
“Today officially marks the 1st Day of Summer. All summer long we will be celebrating the “Summer of Pride,” “I see it as an opportunity for change in our communities, states & nation. It will take us all, but together we can create a wave of change,” Levin wrote. “Let the ‘Summer of Pride’ begin!”
As part of its “Summer of Pride,” the HHS is releasing a series of interviews between Levine and LGBT activists.
In the first video posted to the page Wednesday, Levine spoke with transgender activist Ryan Cassata about the “challenges” transgender individuals face in several states and why they believe it is “more difficult than ever” to identify as transgender.
Levine’s message proved to be too much for many right-wing commentators and news outlets, many taking to Twitter to express their outrage and worries that the rainbows won’t go away at the end of this week.
Fox News reported Levine’s social media posts this way: “Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Assistant Secretary Rachel Levine wants to extend Pride Month to a ‘Summer of Pride.’ ” The Washington Times ran with the headline: “Biden official Rachel Levine wants to prolong Pride Month to Summer of Pride,” and complained that “Rachel Levine wants the LGBTQ celebration to last the entire summer.”
Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk declared on Twitter: “A day wasn’t enough. A week wasn’t enough. Now a month isn’t enough either. Their cultural conquest knows no bounds.”
