President Joe Biden hosted the largest Pride celebration in White House history on Saturday, calling for new measures to protect the rights and safety of LGBTQ+ people amid an avalanche of anti-LGBTQ+ bills introduced in state legislatures around the U.S.
this year Pride Month is being celebrated this year as state lawmakers have introduced at least 525 bills and enacted 78 bills that erode away at LGBTQ+ rights, according to the Human Rights Campaign. “When families across the country face excruciating decisions to relocate to a different state to protect their child from dangerous ant-LGTBQ laws, we have to act,” Biden said at the event, which was initially scheduled for Thursday, but was postponed because of poor air quality from hazardous air flowing in from Canadian wildfires. “We need to push back against the hundreds of callous and cynical bills introduced in states targeting transgender children, terrifying families and criminalizing doctors and nurses.” “So today, I want to send a message to the entire community — especially to transgender children: You are loved.
You are heard. You’re understood. And you belong,” he added. Biden also took to Twitter to share a picture of a Pride Flag hanging from the White House alongside two American flags. “Today, the People’s House – your house – sends a clear message to the country and to the world.
America is a nation of pride,” he tweeted alongside the photo. The Pride celebration and flag display proved to be too much for some conservatives who took to social media to unleash their anti-LGBT meltdowns.