Patriot Brief
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A bold correction: HHS replaced Rachel Levine’s official portrait name with Richard Levine, signaling a shift toward biological terminology.
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A fierce response: Levine and advocates denounced the move as discriminatory, while supporters see it as a long overdue return to reality.
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A deeper conflict: The change highlights the growing national divide over transgender ideology, public health policy, and the definition of biological truth.
The Department of Health and Human Services made a quiet but decisive move that has erupted into a national flashpoint. During the federal shutdown, officials replaced the name “Rachel Levine” on the former Biden administration official’s portrait with the birth name “Richard Levine,” citing a renewed commitment to biological reality in public health. Supporters view the change as a necessary correction to years of ideological drift, while critics call it bigotry. The controversy underscores the widening divide over gender ideology, government policy, and scientific truth, revealing how deeply the battle between biology and identity now shapes American public life.
Fox News reports:
The Department of Health and Human Services has altered the official portrait of a transgender former Biden administration official to display the individual’s birth name, rather than adopted name.
The former official, who currently goes by Rachel Levine, achieved the rank of admiral and served in President Joe Biden’s administration as an assistant secretary for health. Levine was born a male and was the first transgender person to secure a Senate confirmation.
Up until the government shutdown this year, Levine’s portrait plaque in the HHS offices featured the name “Rachel Levine,” but it now displays the official’s birth name, “Richard Levine.”
“Our priority is ensuring that the information presented internally and externally by HHS reflects gold standard science. We remain committed to reversing harmful policies enacted by Levine and ensuring that biological reality guides our approach to public health,” HHS spokesperson Andrew Nixon said in a statement.
Photo credit: Jemal Countess/Getty Images for The Atlantic