HHS Deadnamed Rachel Levine on His Official Portrait; State Sen. Scott Wiener Plots Revenge

Here's some big health news that ought to be making more headlines. During the government shutdown, the government changed the nameplate under Admiral Rachel Levine's official portrait to his "deadname," Richard Levine. NPR was on it:

"During the federal shutdown, the current leadership of the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Health changed Admiral Levine's photo to remove her current legal name and use a prior name," says Adrian Shanker, former deputy assistant secretary for health policy in the Biden administration who worked with Levine and is now her spokesperson. He called the move an act "of bigotry against her."
…
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."

Levine said he wouldn't comment "on this type of petty action," which is fine with us.

Who should emerge but California State Senator Scott Wiener (D-LGBTQ) to rant about the bullies running the country.

Admiral Rachel Levine served as a top health official — first ever Senate-confirmed trans person.

The bullies running our country just changed her official portrait to her dead name.

We’ll change it back when we tear down Trump’s ballroom & remove his birthday as a park holiday pic.twitter.com/CdVjGgCMI2
— Senator Scott Wiener (@Scott_Wiener) December 7, 2025

It's so funny to us that so many Democrats say their priority is tearing down the $300 million addition to the White House. California gubernatorial candidate Eric Swalwell posted in October, "I’ll say it every day for the next 3 years — Any Democrat running for President in 2028 MUST pledge to tear down Trump’s ballroom." It's not Trump's ballroom, you knob. It stays with the White House. The next Democratic president can tear it down and hold state events in the wreckage if he or she wants to.

California Senator Scott Wiener, your obsession with a government portrait while American cities drown in fentanyl, crime, and human feces is peak Democrat privilege. Rachel Levine was confirmed as “Richard Levine” on every single official document submitted to the Senate, that’s…
— Jungleball2 (@JungleBall_2) December 7, 2025

The post continues:

… not a “deadname,” that’s the legal name under which the nomination was voted on. Changing a historical photo to match the actual record isn’t “bullying,” it’s basic accuracy, something your party abandoned around 2015. But sure, keep cosplaying resistance from your $2 million Castro duplex. Threatening to “tear down Trump’s ballroom” (whatever deranged fanfic that is) and erase a former president’s birthday from a park calendar is exactly why Californians are fleeing your utopia in droves. Priorities, perfectly illustrated.

I find it interesting that you talk about bullying.

Coercing people into pretending that he is a woman using fear of losing their jobs seems like bullying to me.

And yes, that is exactly what happened.
— Ben Dempsey (@BenDempsey18) December 8, 2025

Richard Levine was caught pressuring WPATH to change their standards of care to remove the age restriction on giving children cross-sex hormones. For this he should be court-martialed and jailed for the rest of his life.
— John Connor 🇨🇦 (@jbvconnor) December 8, 2025

That's a positive in Wiener's book.

So tearing down a building is equal to putting a persons birth name on a portrait? Yeah, right
— Dave Philpott (@Indydavep) December 7, 2025

His name is Richard.
— Gunther Eagleman™ (@GuntherEagleman) December 7, 2025

Oh no. This will have a profound effect on anyone walking down a particular hallway on the seventh floor of the Humphrey Building in Washington, D.C. We hear it's a big tourist attraction.

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