(Luis Cornelio, Headline USA) The Trump administration is done with preferred pronouns and gender ideology.
Official portraits of Rachel Levine, the Biden administration’s assistant secretary for health, will now use his birth name, “Richard L. Levine, M.D.”
HHS spokesperson Gregory Angelo confirmed the change on X, sharing a photo of Levine’s portrait at the Washington, D.C., headquarters of HHS, which showed the original name behind a glass-covered frame.
Can confirm: https://t.co/wUml8Iet5M pic.twitter.com/F8jl92oRfU
— Gregory T. Angelo (@gregorytangelo) December 7, 2025
The Democratic Party has long championed Levine as a historic figure, celebrating him as the first openly transgender individual to secure a Senate-confirmed federal position.
He led the Commissioned Corps of the U.S. Public Health Service and previously ran the Pennsylvania Department of Health from July 2017 to January 2021.
During the Biden years, Levine was one of the loudest advocates for gender transition policies for children, calling so-called gender-affirming care medically necessary.
“Accredited medical professional groups agree that gender-affirming care is medically necessary, safe, and effective for trans and non-binary youth,” Levine wrote on X in 2022. “States should translate this knowledge into more compassionate policies that protect rather than undermine youth mental health.”
Levine began his gender transition in his 40s, after having two children and divorcing his wife, Dr. Martha Peaslee Levine.
HHS spokesperson Andrew Nixon said the name change reflects “gold standard science.”
“Our priority is ensuring that the information presented internally and externally by HHS reflects gold standard science,” Nixon said in remarks to NPR. “We remain committed to reversing harmful policies enacted by Levine and ensuring that biological reality guides our approach to public health.”
In response, Levine spokesperson Adrian Shanker denounced the decision as an act “of bigotry,” noting it occurred during the government shutdown.
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