A new bill lead by Representative Andy Ogles (R-TN-05) and Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX) would prohibit the federal government from requiring its employees or contractors to comply with the “preferred pronouns” of employees following Biden administration’s new Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) guidance that critics say will see employees fired for “misgendering.”
“Can you imagine getting reprimanded or fired from your job for not using an individual’s ‘preferred pronouns’?” Ogles said in a statement obtained by The Washington Examiner, in which he unveiled his Safeguarding Honest Speech Act. “Unfortunately, that is exactly what the Biden regime has imposed in its latest guidance from the Department of Health and Human Services,” stated Ogles. “The radical Left is actively coercing the speech of individuals — all in service of a delusional woke agenda.”
In a statement staff emailed to The Tennessee Star, Ogles said “compelled speech has no place in America,” and argued “no one should fear for their livelihood if they choose not to participate in another person’s fantasy.”
“The protections of the First Amendment are a large part of what makes this country the greatest in the world. Preserving and protecting the Constitution is the responsibility of the President and every elected leader,” Ogles told The Star. “Biden has failed to do so, but I’m glad to be joined by my fellow patriot, Senator Cruz, in our endeavor to block Joe’s attempts to silence The People.”
The Examiner reported that co-sponsors for the bill include Representatives Lauren Boebert (R-CO-03), Eli Crane (R-AZ-02), Doug LaMalfa (R-CA-01), Andy Harris (R-MD-01), and Mary Miller (R-IL-15).
Ogles announced the bill after HHS distributed a mandatory set of rules titled the “Gender Identity and Non-Discrimination Guidance” to its employees on October 11 in an email leaked on social media the same day.
Part of the guidance includes the agency’s new mandate for all employees and contractors to use the “preferred pronouns” of other employees. “Preferred pronouns” correspond to an individual’s chosen gender identity.
A video explaining the agency’s new policy featured President Joe Biden’s top HHS official, Rachel Levine, M.D., a biological male who identifies as a transgender woman.
Levine greeted the audience as “an out and proud transgender woman in a senior leadership position at HHS,” and commended the agency’s leadership for ensuring “all HHS employees, including transgender and nonbinary employees, have the equal protections in the workplace that they need and deserve.”
“All supervisors and managers are responsible for helping to ensure it is fully implemented across” the agency, Levine noted.
Roger Severino, the former director of the HHS Office for Civil Rights during the Trump administration who originally posted the email to social media, said employees will “face firing” unless they “deny biological realities with their own words” at the workplace.
HHS today imposed a transgender pronoun mandate on its employees who will now be forced to deny biological realities with their own words or face firing. Those with faith objections should immediately request religious accommodation and prepare to fight for your rights. pic.twitter.com/VW696MnE3y
— Roger Severino (@RogerSeverino_) October 11, 2023
Severino later told Fox News Digital the new mandate violates the First Amendment, arguing it forces federal employees to speak falsehoods, compels them to adopt a state-approved ideology, and potentially requires them to deny their own faith.
Pew Research Center polling data from 2022 revealed that just 1.6 percent of the adult population in the United States identifies as transgender or nonbinary. However, the number of people who identified as transgender spiked among American adults aged 18 to 29, with the survey indicating 5.1 percent of adults younger than 30 identifying as transgender or nonbinary.
The opposite was true for older generations. Among 30 to 49-year-olds, 1.6 percent identify as transgender or nonbinary, reflecting the nationwide average, while just 0.3 percent of Americans over 50 identify as anything but their biological gender.
– – –
Tom Pappert is the lead reporter for The Tennessee Star, and also reports for The Georgia Star News, The Virginia Star, and the Arizona Sun Times. Follow Tom on X/Twitter. Email tips to [email protected].
Photo “Ted Cruz” by Ted Cruz. Photo “Andy Ogles” by Andy Ogles.
