Originally published at: Rachel Levine is the first openly trans federal official confirmed by the U.S. Senate | Boing Boing
…
15 Likes
Excellent news! I’m happy to hear she’ll be serving the American people!
And we all see the people who voted against Dr. Levine out of bigotry and spite. It’s clear she’s highly qualified for this position and we know why they refused to support her confirmation, except for Sen. Murkowski.
21 Likes
I don’t know why Democrats keep trying to work with Republicans. They aren’t trying to work with you or anyone else in America. Bury them them now and forever.
16 Likes
Her work advocating for incarcerated people during the earlier part of the pandemic was something I looked to with tremendous attention. While everyone in Ohio was fawning over Dewine as he let our prisons become slaughterhouses, Pennsylvania was actually engaging in compassionate release. Their prison infection rate didn’t climb past Ohio’s until really recently.
16 Likes
Many thanks to Ms. Levine, and a huge congrats to her as well.
8 Likes
Jesus, these fucking guys. If there were any objective requirement for internal consistency in a political philosophy, libertarianism wouldn’t last 5 minutes.
13 Likes
The libertarians on the ground I know claim to be such so they don’t have to own the nasty stuff the Republican party is up to these days. (But they still vote Republican)
8 Likes
first off, good for rachel levine! second, anyone notice a pattern with rand paul when he gets a chance to turn on the microphone and ask a question of anyone? he’s a bully. and a moron.
5 Likes
As much as I hate to give Susan Collins any credit she also voted for Levine’s confirmation.
10 Likes
Key phrase, confirmed by the Senate. My step-mother worked with someone openly transitioned in the late 90s in the DoJ, in the Civil Rights section. Granted, of all parts of the government, you’d expect that group to be the most open and understanding 
Good job to Secretary Levine! Hopefully a source of inspiration for other members of the trans community.
5 Likes
Deeper dive on this one:
5 Likes
She’s done great work here in PA. Following the governor’s account on Facebook, it’s sad to see how many truly vile Pennsylvanians come out of the woodwork any time she is mentioned. That swing state life.
5 Likes
Good for her. Good luck in your appointment!
2 Likes
Thank you. I was wondering since they couldn’t have gotten a 52 vote confirmation with only one Republican.
3 Likes
In fairness to libertarians…
“They thought all along that they could call me a libertarian and hang that label around my neck like an albatross, but I’m not a libertarian.” — Rand Paul
I’m sure he’s said the opposite too, when it suited him, but together it all just illustrates that Paul is really just an unprincipled weirdo.
12 Likes
Corrected, thank you.
6 Likes
the libertarians seem to want to claim him as their own; we the weirdos - and as a former official unofficial unrepresentative of the weird i can safely say - we want nothing to do with him.
5 Likes
There is a substantial distance between ‘weird’ and ‘asshole’, although there may be a Venn diagram overlap.
1 Like
Well, in that case I may need to update my definition of libertarian…
1 Like
OK, kids. Siddown and let grandpap tell you a story:
It was 1993. Clinton was filling out his cabinet.
Up for assistant secretary for fair housing at the Department of Housing and Urban Development was San Francisco gay rights advocate Roberta Achtenberg.
Senator Jesse Helms (R- NC) (remember that asshole?) said he would oppose her nomination “because she’s a damn lesbian. I’m not going to put a lesbian in a position like that. If you want to call me a bigot, fine,”
So fast forward 28 years and now we have a big ol’ gay as a cabinet secretary and a trans woman in an assistant secretary role.
Albeit slowly, things are improving…
“The arc of history bends toward justice”
/ As an aside, here’s what the queer newspaper SF Bay Times had as the front page:
(That’s Gertrude Stein, Jodie Foster, and Roberta Achtenberg)
1 Like
