Vanderbilt University hosted Assistant Secretary for Health for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Admiral Rachel L. Levine last week to headline a talk on “transgender health and policy in Tennessee, the South, and the United States.”
Thank you so much to @VanderbiltU & @VUMChealth for inviting me to speak today on health issues facing LGBTQI+ Americans. Medical decisions should be based on the best evidence and be made by doctors and patients.
Thanks to @brotherjones for representing your community’s needs. pic.twitter.com/nfDt40KnMN
— ADM Rachel Levine (@HHS_ASH) April 10, 2024
Last week’s event was part of the university’s Spring 2024 Seminar Series for the Center for Research on Inequality and Health, co-hosted by the Vanderbilt LGBTQ+ Policy Lab and the Vanderbilt LGBTQI+ Task Force.
Vanderbilt said Levine, a man who identifies as a woman, “combined her unique perspectives as a pediatrician and a high-ranking government official with her lived experience as a transgender person to comment broadly on LGBTQI+ rights and health and specifically on transgender health, which has been the center of attention recently at statehouses across the nation, including in Tennessee.”
Levine was nominated for the position of assistant secretary by President Joe Biden and confirmed by the U.S. Senate in 2021.
“Our goal should be a society in which all people, in all places, thrive, without exceptions,” Levine said, according to the university. “I am hopeful for a more inclusive future, and we all have a role in making that happen. Raising awareness is an important step, but I hope that we can all work together, across government at the local, state and federal level, across academia, and across professions, to turn that awareness into action.”
Thank you so much to @TNDeptofHealth, @TNedu, @MarthaOBryanCtr, @TNJusticeCenter and all the partners who gathered to broaden our approach to improving nutrition in Tennessee. Good food improves health. No kid or adult should go hungry in this state or this country. pic.twitter.com/vKXgYacmAu
— ADM Rachel Levine (@HHS_ASH) April 11, 2024
During her visit to the Volunteer State, Levine also met with Tennessee State Representative Justin Jones (D-Nashville) (pictured here) and representatives from YWCA Nashville & Middle Tennessee, the Tennessee Department of Education, the Martha O’Bryan Center, and the Tennessee Justice Center.
Last year, Tennessee Governor Bill Lee signed SB1/HB1 titled, ‘The Protecting Children from Gender Mutilation Act’ into law, which forbids healthcare providers from performing or administering to underage children medical procedures or treatments for the purposes of enabling the child to identify with the opposite gender.
The bill was originally introduced in November 2022 after it was revealed that Vanderbilt University Medical Center was providing transgender surgeries to minors.
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Kaitlin Housler is a reporter at The Tennessee Star and The Star News Network. Follow Kaitlin on X / Twitter.
Photos “Dr. Rachel Levine in Nashville” by Assistant Secretary for Health for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Admiral Rachel L. Levine.
