A new feature on the relaunched White House website contact form allows people to choose their own pronouns, reflecting the new administration’s commitment to diversity.
The change did not go unnoticed — it was shared widely on Twitter, including by LGBTQ civil rights organization Equality California which wrote, “In this @WhiteHouse we respect pronouns.”
“On Day One, the Biden administration has taken immediate steps to include trans, nonbinary, and gender nonconforming people in the conversation,” GLAAD President and CEO Sarah Kate Ellis dijo en un comunicado. “Pronouns matter, and adding inclusive pronouns to a contact form is more than just a demonstration of allyship.”
“Research has shown that recognition and respect of our pronouns can make all the difference for our health and wellbeing — especially when it comes to LGBTQ youth,” Ellis added.
The site now also includes a Spanish language version of the White House’s communications — a page that went dark when Donald Trump took office. The relaunch came the same day President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris took the oath of office. Harris is now the first female, first Black and first South Asian vice president.
CNN has reached out to the White House for comment.
Biden has already vowed to be a champion for inclusivity — and his picks for the country’s top leaders could make historia, if confirmed, for the most diverse presidential Cabinet.
A CNN analysis found 50% of Biden’s nominees for Cabinet positions and Cabinet-level positions are people of color — more than former President Barack Obama’s, who held the previous record for diversity with a Cabinet that was 42% people of color.
Among them is California Attorney General Xavier Becerra, who would be the first Latino to lead the Department of Health and Human Services and former South Bend, Indiana, Mayor Pete Buttigieg, who would be the first out LGBTQ Cabinet secretary to be approved by the Senate.
And earlier this week, Biden nominated Dr. Rachel Levine to serve as assistant health secretary. Levine would make history as the first out, transgender federal official to be confirmed.
“Dr. Rachel Levine will bring the steady leadership and essential expertise we need to get people through this pandemic — no matter their zip code, raza, religión, orientación sexual, gender identity, or disability — and meet the public health needs of our country in this critical moment and beyond,” Biden said in a statement about the pick.
