Biden, Buttigieg condemn GOP-backed state bills addressing transgender rights: 'Disturbing'

President Biden ripped a “disturbing” trend of GOP-backed state initiatives seeking to limit the rights of transgender youth on Friday, describing the bills as “nothing more than bullying disguised as legislation.”

"These are some of the ugliest, most un-American laws I’ve seen and I’ve been here a while," Biden said at the event. "Many of them target transgender children, seeking to prevent them from seeking the appropriate medical care, for using the bathroom at high school, the one where they’ll be most safe, even preventing them from joining sports teams with their classmates." GOP-controlled legislatures pursuing transgender sports bills argue that allowing transgender youth to participate in girls' sports would be harmful to competition. Others argue that transgender youths are too young to make decisions about receiving medical intervention related to sex change. Biden has made the expansion of LGBTQ+ rights a priority in his administration, signing executive orders shortly after taking office aimed at banning discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity at federally funded institutions. Earlier this month, Biden’s Department of Education declared Title IX protections apply to gender identity, in a reversal of the Trump administration’s stance.