Secretary of State Antony Blinken became the latest Biden administration official to mark Transgender Day of Visibility, which has sparked controversy for being celebrated the same day as Easter.”Transgender Day of Visibility is a celebration of the courage and resilience of transgender, nonbinary and gender non-confirming persons who exist in every country and culture around the world,” Blinken said in a statement Sunday.
Amid backlash about the White House proclaiming Transgender Day of Visibility on Easter Sunday, Fox News Digital found an extensive list of LGBT-focused holidays celebrated throughout the year, including a handful recognized by the White House.
The state of New York will have 13 landmarks lit in celebration of Transgender Day of Visibility Sunday, joining the White House in observation of the day.One World Trade Center, the Empire State Plaza and Niagara Falls are just a few of the locations that “will be lit light pink, white and light blue,” a press release from the office of Gov. Kathy Hochul states.
As President Biden faces heated backlash over marking March 31 as “Transgender Day of Visibility,” which falls on Easter Sunday this year, the White House has issued a response standing by the president’s remarks.White House spokesman Andrew Bates released a statement saying those critical of Biden’s inclusiveness message are trying to further divide the country.
Connecticut has become one of the last holdout states to allow early in-person voting ahead of the state’s presidential primary on Tuesday. Saturday was the last day for early voting before Tuesday, which was marked by low turnout. Only 13,476 voters out of both Democrats and Republicans in the state came out to cast an early ballot. There are around 1.2 million voters registered for both parties in the state.
After President Biden sparked fury by declaring March 31 “Transgender Day of Visibility,” which this year is also Easter Sunday, former President Trump called for an immediate apology to millions of Christians and Catholics.Trump’s national press secretary, Karoline Leavitt, called it “appalling and insulting” that Biden “formally proclaimed Easter Sunday as ‘Trans Day of Visibility.
A handful of liberal churches, religious groups and LGBTQ+ organizations are celebrating the fact that Transgender Day of Visibility, recognized each year on March 31, falls on Easter Sunday in 2024.Easter Sunday, which is not a fixed date, also falls on March 31, marking one of the most important liturgical celebrations as millions of Christians commemorate the resurrection of Jesus Christ.
A Chinese illegal immigrant was arrested in California on Wednesday after entering a Marine Corps base without authorization and ignoring orders to leave, officials say.Border Patrol’s El Centro Sector Chief Patrol Agent Gregory Bovino said that agents responded to a call from the base about a Chinese national “who entered the base w/o authorization, ignoring orders to leave.”A spokesperson for the U.S.
Maryland Gov. Wes Moore stated Saturday that conditions remain “unsafe” for rescue divers due to weather and debris following the collapse of the Francis Scott Key Bridge. “Conditions in the water make it unsafe for rescue divers. And we’re not just talking about weather and wind,” Moore said during a press conference, appearing alongside Baltimore City Mayor Brandon Scott, state police Superintendent Col. Roland Butler, and first responders.
ATLANTA (AP) — Georgia’s 2024 legislative session again showcased contrasting Republican approaches to governing, while minority Democrats couldn’t leverage those differences to advance top policy priorities.And while many GOP initiatives in the state Senate seemed like appeals to that party’s primary voters, Republicans are hoping tax cuts and a harder line on immigration will carry them to victory in November’s legislative races.
President Biden appealed to supporters of Nikki Haley in a new campaign ad on Friday. “If you voted for Nikki Haley, Donald Trump doesn’t want your vote,” the ad begins, showing clips of the presumptive Republican nominee Trump calling the former South Carolina governor Haley “bird brain” and claiming she made an “unholy alliance with RINOs, Never Trumpers, [and] Americans for No Prosperity.
Wisconsin’s Democratic Gov. Tony Evers vetoed 41 bills passed by the Republican-led Legislature on Friday — rejecting a $3 billion Republican tax cut, political loyalty pledges for higher education employees, and a plan setting how many wolves can be hunted each year.Evers signed a bipartisan bill to provide $400,000 supporting Holocaust education in Wisconsin schools. A 2021 law requires teaching about the Holocaust in grades 5 through 12 statewide.
New York City Mayor Eric Adams marked Good Friday by receiving a jailhouse baptism from the Rev. Al Sharpton, joining in on the religious rite with a group of men incarcerated at the troubled Rikers Island jail complex.The ceremony came as part of a visit to the jail complex where Adams was scheduled to meet with detainees on the Christian holiday.
Democratic Gov. Janet Mills on Friday unveiled a budget revision that includes additional one-time spending to build more housing for Maine residents, to provide grants to child care providers, and to accelerate nursing facility rate reform, among other initiatives.
President Biden appeared with his predecessors — former presidents Barack Obama and Bill Clinton — at a star-studded fundraiser in New York City on Thursday night expected to fetch more than $25 million toward his re-election campaign. The one-night event was held at Radio City Music Hall in Manhattan. More than 5,000 people were expected at the sold-out gala. The event isn’t cheap.
A U.S. judge ruled against the Biden administration in a decision about a highway climate rule on Wednesday.The rule was issued by the Department of Transportation (DOT)’s Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) in December 2023. It requires states to measure and report the greenhouse gas emissions from any vehicles using the U.S. highway system.The rule also asked states to establish declining carbon dioxide targets, and to report back about progress on those goals.
RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — Republican Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin vetoed two top Democratic legislative priorities on Thursday: bills that would have allowed the recreational retail sales of marijuana to begin next year and measures mandating a minimum wage increase.The development did not come as a surprise.
Republican lawmakers in Kentucky wrapped up work Thursday on a sweeping criminal justice bill that would deliver harsher sentences to combat crime. Opponents making a last stand before final passage warned the measure would carry a hefty price tag with no assurances that a tougher approach will lower crime.The House voted 75-23 after another long debate to send the measure to Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear. The massive legislation is a priority for many in the GOP supermajority legislature.
Thousands of emails of North Dakota’s late attorney general have been released by his successor — long-sought records mired in controversy and previously thought gone forever.Attorney General Drew Wrigley released about 2,000 emails with redactions on Wednesday. Another 6,000 emails and untold text messages remain to be reviewed and released, he said.
A pariah in his own party, and a voice of independence in the Senate.
Nick Akerman, a former Watergate prosecutor, said that in his 50-some years in law, he has never seen a gag order like the one imposed on former President Trump in his hush money payments case this week. New York Judge Juan Merchan issued the gag order on Tuesday following a request from Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg.”This is so unusual,” Akerman told CNN’s Fredericka Whitfield on Wednesday.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen called out China’s ramped-up production in solar energy, electric vehicles and lithium-ion batteries, calling it unfair competition that “distorts global prices” and “hurts American firms and workers, as well as firms and workers around the world.
Legalized statewide sports wagering in North Carolina from smartphones and desktops that began two weeks ago is off to a “strong start,” a state lottery official said on Wednesday, likely buoyed by betting on college basketball at its season’s apex.
Prosecutors went after Hunter Biden’s attorneys during an hours-long hearing Wednesday on several motions to dismiss criminal tax evasion charges against the president’s son.The first son did not appear in federal court in Los Angeles on Wednesday, but his attorney Abbe Lowell argued in favor of dismissing what he claimed were politically motivated charges. He said the government was perpetrating “the least ordinary prosecution a person could imagine.
New York’s Metro Transportation Authority (MTA) voted to impose a first-in-the-nation traffic congestion pricing program on Wednesday.The MTA will now charge $15 for vehicles driving in certain areas of the city. The move, which passed on an 11-1 vote, outraged Rep. Josh Gottheimer, D-N.J., who argues the new policy is nothing more than a “cash grab.””Today’s vote was just a rubber stamp on the MTA’s unprecedented cash grab.
Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick, R-Pa., warned on Saturday that America could continue to see violent crime sprees like Saturday’s Pennsylvania shooting and New Jersey standoff, where a lone gunman killed three people before being taken into custody hours later.
Former President Trump was flanked by several Republican allies during a campaign rally in Ohio on Saturday, where he urged voters to support Republican Senate candidate Bernie Moreno.In his remarks, Trump railed against President Biden — calling him “a great threat to our democracy” and the “worst president in U.S. history” — and his border policies.
Former President Trump visited Ohio on Saturday, where he barnstormed for businessman Bernie Moreno, a Republican seeking to win his state’s primary to run against Democrat Sherrod Brown for U.S. Senate.During his rally in the Dayton suburb of Vandalia, Trump repeatedly mentioned illegal migrants surging across the border, violent migrant crime, and the death of University of Georgia nursing student Laken Riley.”Not one more American life should be lost to migrant crime.
Dozens of migrants were seen breaching the United States-Mexico border wall in Arizona over the weekend, where a video caught them crossing unimpeded and taking selfies once they got onto American soil.Fox News national correspondent Bill Melugin shared the video, which was taken in Lukeville, Arizona, on Friday. It appears to show dozens of women, children and whole family units, dressed casually and in clean clothes, carrying their belongings.
After a Georgia judge gave embattled District Attorney Fani Willis an ultimatum to resign or remove her ex-lover and subordinate counsel, legal experts say their “illicit affair” could complicate jury selection in the case against former President Trump.