Report: Biden’s HHS Imposes Gender Identity Pronoun Mandate on Employees

Department of Health and Human Services Assistant Secretary for Health, Admiral Rachel Lev
AP Photo/Wilfredo Lee
Katherine Hamilton

President Joe Biden’s Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is ordering its employees to defy biological reality by referring to transgender coworkers by their “preferred pronouns.”

The HHS, which employs approximately 80,000 people in the United States and abroad, imposed its new “Gender Identity and Non-Discrimination Guidance” late last week, which outlines “employee rights and protections related to gender identity,” according to an alleged HHS email sent to employees and obtained by Catholic News Agency (CNA).

“All employees should be addressed [by] the names and pronouns they use to describe themselves,” the HHS email reads.

The HHS also posted a video to YouTube — designated as “unlisted” — in which HHS Secretary Andrea Palm says the policy allows colleagues “to show up every day as their whole selves.”

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“I want to say clearly to every one of you: Who you are and who you know yourself to be is valid,” Palm said.. “We want you to be your authentic self every day, regardless of your gender identity, sexual orientation, race, ethnicity, religion, or disability status.”

While Palm did mention religion, neither the video nor the email disclosed if the HHS plans on accommodating or exempting employees with religious objections to affirming transgender delusions.

HHS Assistant Secretary for Health Admiral Rachel Levine, who describes himself as  “an out and proud transgender woman” in the video, said this policy ensures that “all HHS employees, including transgender and nonbinary employees, have equal protections in the workplace.” He added that all supervisors and managers are responsible for enforcing the policy.

“Every one of us can play a role in creating a welcoming workplace,” he said. “Every one of you can make a difference in improving the feelings of inclusion for your coworkers.”

Former director of the HHS Office for Civil Rights during the Trump administration Roger Severino accused the agency of “compelled speech” in a statement to CNA.

Severino, who now works as vice president of domestic policy for the Heritage Foundation, said HHS has “replaced science and evidence with ideology” by implementing its gender ideology policy and argued that the policy could be used to target Christian employees.

“It absolutely will [lead to targeting Christians] because the [Biden] administration has made it abundantly clear that it prioritizes gender ideology over free speech and religious freedom rights,” Severino said.

Severino further argued that “[u]nder the First Amendment, [the HHS] cannot compel people to speak falsehoods; it also cannot compel people to adopt as their own a state-approved ideology [and the agency] cannot require people of faith to deny their faith with their own lips.”

“People should be prepared to file lawsuits to indicate their free speech and religious liberty rights and people of faith should flood HHS with religious accommodations requests and be prepared to defend themselves and their faith from this attack,” he said.

The new policy additionally allows employees to wear clothing and use the restrooms that match their “gender identity,” and recommends the agency change its IT systems to ensure its official records document an employee’s transgender status.

“It also provides department-level coordination for anti-discrimination protections from the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission,” according to the report.

CNA reportedly reached out to HHS asking if employees would face disciplinary action for refusing to comply with the policy and whether religious employees could receive accommodations or exemptions. The outlet did not receive a response by time of publication.

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