‘Slap in the face to all Christians in America’: US conservatives fume over Joe Biden’s latest move on Easter Sunday

The US President’s move on Easter Sunday has been described as ‘slap in the face to all Christians in America” by political critics.

US conservatives have lashed out over Joe Biden’s proclamation that this year’s Easter Sunday will also officially be the Transgender Day of Visibility.

President Biden declared the move on Friday, US time, calling for Americans to “join us in lifting up the lives and voices of transgender people throughout our nation”.

The Transgender Day of Visibility has been celebrated on March 31 since 2009 and has become an international event over the years.

It is also held on the same day in Australia and other nations such as New Zealand, Canada, Ireland and the UK.

Easter Sunday, a day when Christians celebrate the Biblical resurrection of Jesus, won’t be held on March 31 again for at least another decade.

US President Joe Biden. Picture: Brendan Smialowski/AFP

President Biden, a devout Catholic, used the announcement to take aim at the right and “extremists” for proposing “hateful laws” targeting trans kids.

“Whether serving their communities or in the military, raising families or running businesses, they help America thrive,” he said.

“They deserve, and are entitled to, the same rights and freedoms as every other American, including the most fundamental freedom to be their true selves.”

It sparked outrage from conservative commentators and Republican Party figures, with Donald Trump’s press secretary Karoline Leavitt calling the move “blasphemous”.

Ms Leavitt also took aim at a decision to prevent children who entered the White House’s annual Easter Art Event from submitting religious-inspired designs.

The statement issued by Karoline Leavitt. Picture: X

“We call on Joe Biden’s failing campaign and White House to issue an apology to the millions of Catholics and Christians across America who believe tomorrow is for one celebration only — the resurrection of Jesus Christ,” she wrote.

Trump devotee and Georgia Republican Congresswoman, Marjorie Taylor Greene also took a shot at President Biden saying that God “will not be mocked”.

“There is no length Biden and the Democrats won’t go to mock your faith, and to thumb his nose at God,” she wrote on X.

Self-described “theocratic fascist” and blogger Matt Walsh told his 2.7 million followers on the same platform that President Biden was “a demon”.

“I have as low an opinion of Biden as you can possibly have and yet this is so outrageously evil that I had to check to make sure it was real. It is,” he wrote.

A recent study estimated there were 1.6 million people who identify as trans in the US.

“Our “catholic” president has chosen the highest holiday on the Christian calendar to celebrate transgenderism.”

Right-wing media personality Benny Johnson called the proclamation a “slap in the face to all Christians in America”.

More than 1.6 million people in the US identify as transgender, according to a 2022 study from UCLA’s research centre the Williams Institute.

Event founder Rachel Crandall-Crocker told news site NPR this week that she could not have imagined it would go on to “change the world”.

“It really is amazing how far it has come,” she said. “I wasn’t expecting to start an international movement.”