How Petty!

This administration is so petty, they would gleefully pour salt on a wound and their hatred of anything trans is even worst! You know that President Biden had a trans person as the head of the Commissioned Corps of the U.S. Public Health Service, well get a load at the petty thing that the Trump administration did to her!

HHS changed the name of transgender health leader on her official portrait

NPR News

By Selena Simmons-Duffin

December 5, 2025

As 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.

But what did the narrow-minded Trump administration do?

 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.

They "dead-named" her! Like little bullies on a playground... they dead maned her. I'm surprised that they did paint a mustache on her, that is the infantile behavior that is expected from Trump's administration. Meanwhile, Admiral Levine takes the high ground!

Levine told NPR that it was an honor to serve the American people as the assistant secretary for health "and I'm not going to comment on this type of petty action."

While they crawl in the slop and mud...

NPR asked HHS who made the change and why. In response, HHS spokesperson Andrew Nixon wrote: "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."

They had to stick her in the back and twist the knife.

The Advocate put it this way,

Adrian Shanker, who served as Levine’s deputy and directed the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Health Policy, said the move reflects a troubling misuse of institutional authority.

“During her entire time as assistant secretary for health and admiral of the United States Public Health Service, Admiral Levine was a dedicated public health servant,” Shanker told The Advocate. “She was working to end the HIV epidemic, respond to syphilis surges, improve mental health and nutrition, and really work for the health and well-being of all Americans. And it seems like what the folks that are there now are doing are small acts of pettiness and bigotry. It’s not only unfair to Admiral Levine, but it’s unfair to the American people that this is the level of seriousness of the current political appointees at HHS.”

This is what we expect from the current administration.

He added that the portrait alteration fits into the broader pattern of the administration seeking to erase transgender people from public life. “It does seem like they’re obsessed with trans people and with removing not only their legal rights and their access to health care, but even people’s basic existence,” he said.