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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsHHS changed the name of transgender health leader on her official portrait
https://www.npr.org/sections/shots-health-news/2025/12/05/nx-s1-5633282/transgender-rachel-levine-portrait-hhsAs you walk down a particular hallway on the seventh floor of the Humphrey Building in Washington, D.C., you'll find a line of photographic portraits of all the people from years past who have led the Public Health Corps at the federal Department of Health and Human Services.
Only one of those portraits is of a transgender person: Adm. Rachel Levine, who served for four years as President Biden's assistant secretary for health. She was the first transgender person to win Senate confirmation, and her portrait has been displayed in the hallway since soon after she was confirmed in 2021. The role is a four-star admiral position in charge of the Commissioned Corps of the U.S. Public Health Service.
Levine's official portrait was recently altered, a spokesperson for HHS confirmed to NPR. A digital photograph of the portrait in the hallway obtained by NPR shows that Levine's previous name is now typed below the portrait, under the glass of the frame.
"During the federal shutdown, the current leadership of the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Health changed Admiral Levine's photo to remove her current legal name and use a prior name," says Adrian Shanker, former deputy assistant secretary for health policy in the Biden administration who worked with Levine and is now her spokesperson. He called the move an act "of bigotry against her."
Only one of those portraits is of a transgender person: Adm. Rachel Levine, who served for four years as President Biden's assistant secretary for health. She was the first transgender person to win Senate confirmation, and her portrait has been displayed in the hallway since soon after she was confirmed in 2021. The role is a four-star admiral position in charge of the Commissioned Corps of the U.S. Public Health Service.
Levine's official portrait was recently altered, a spokesperson for HHS confirmed to NPR. A digital photograph of the portrait in the hallway obtained by NPR shows that Levine's previous name is now typed below the portrait, under the glass of the frame.
"During the federal shutdown, the current leadership of the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Health changed Admiral Levine's photo to remove her current legal name and use a prior name," says Adrian Shanker, former deputy assistant secretary for health policy in the Biden administration who worked with Levine and is now her spokesperson. He called the move an act "of bigotry against her."
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HHS changed the name of transgender health leader on her official portrait (Original Post)
WhiskeyGrinder
Friday
OP
These people are so depraved. We can't be rid of them and their ilk soon enough.
Blues Heron
Friday
#3
CaliforniaPeggy
(155,939 posts)1. That is a shameful act against the Admiral.
But what do you expect from people who have no shame?
MysteriousStranger
(17 posts)2. I hold the highest respect
for Admiral Levine. She was an amazing voice of reason here in Pa during COVID.
Blues Heron
(8,169 posts)3. These people are so depraved. We can't be rid of them and their ilk soon enough.
leftstreet
(38,646 posts)4. This petty spitefulness is so very, very creepy
Biophilic
(6,352 posts)5. They are such small people with such small minds.
soldierant
(9,223 posts)8. And they live in such a small world -
one in which there is no room for anyone or anything other than their small opinions.
Solly Mack
(96,242 posts)6. Cruelty
mountain grammy
(28,549 posts)7. How disgusting and disgraceful
Miserable hateful people. No reason for this.
Danmel
(5,665 posts)9. Wtaf is wrong with these people?
If kids behaved this way, they'd be evaluated for serious mental health issues. What happened to them to make them so gratuitous mean, they're such assholes.