President Donald Trump’s administration changed the name of a trailblazing transgender health leader on her official portrait, according to a new report.
Adm. Rachel Levine made history in 2021 when she was sworn in as the assistant secretary for health at the Department of Health and Human Services under former President Joe Biden. When Levine took on the role, she was the nation’s highest-ranking, openly transgender federal official.
Levine’s portrait now hangs in the HHS office, along with pictures of other federal officials who have led the U.S. Public Health Corps. But in recent weeks, the agency removed Levine’s name from her portrait and replaced it with her previous name, according to NPR.
The act of revealing or using a transgender person’s birth name without their permission is sometimes known as deadnaming, according to GLAAD.
Adrian Shanker, a former deputy assistant secretary for health policy in the Biden administration and Levine’s current spokesperson, told NPR the change is an act “of bigotry against her.”
“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,” Shanker told the outlet.
Levine said it was a “great honor to serve in the United States Public Health Service Commissioned Corps.”
“My focus has been and continues to be on public health and health equity. I am not going to comment on this type of petty action,” she said in a statement to The Independent.
Andrew Nixon, a spokesperson for HHS, said that the agency’s 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,” Nixon told NPR.
The Independent has contacted HHS for comment.
An unnamed HHS staffer told NPR the change was “disrespectful” and shows “the erasure of transgender individuals by this administration.”
Over the last year, the Trump administration has sought to roll back the rights of transgender and intersex people throughout the federal government.
Shortly after taking office in January, Trump signed an executive order banning transgender people from the military, which the Supreme Court ruled could be enforced as legal challenges play out. He also signed another executive order targeting gender-affirming healthcare.
The administration has also blocked citizens from choosing a sex marker on their passports that aligns with their gender identity.
Some transgender service members filed a lawsuit against the administration last month, arguing that they were illegally stripped of their retirement benefits when they were forced out of the military.
Levine has been targeted by anti-transgender rhetoric throughout her time in the federal government, she told NPR in January. Ahead of the 2024 presidential election, her image even appeared in anti-transgender GOP advertisements.
“It was very challenging, but I’m a resilient person and I’m fine,” Levine told the outlet.
Levine worked as a pediatrician and public health official in Pennsylvania before joining the Biden administration, NPR reports. She resigned from her role at HHS in January, on the day Trump was sworn in for a second term.
