Did President Joe Biden declare Easter Sunday to be "Transgender Day of Visibility"? No, that's not true: The Biden White House did issue a proclamation celebrating the "extraordinary courage and contributions of transgender Americans," on March 31, as it had in each of the three prior years. In 2024, the day coincided with Easter. While Transgender Day of Visibility, started in 2009, always falls on March 31, Easter, the holiest day of the Christian calendar, varies annually. The two days will coincide again in 2086.
The claim appeared in a post (archived here) published on Instagram by thereal_popz on March 30, 2024, under the on-screen title "Biden declared Easter Sunday to be 'trans visibility day' because apparently they're invisible the rest of the year." The post's caption said:
👉🏾Is this a W or L🤔⁉️ comment below 👇🏽
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This is what the post looked like on YouTube at the time of writing:
(Source: Instagram screenshot taken on Mon Apr 1 14:22:01 2024 UTC)
The video
During the 17-second clip, the narrator laid out his claim that the president effectively turned the Christian holiday into a celebration of trans people. Here's what he said:
Biden declared Easter Sunday to be a "trans visibility day" because apparently, they're invisible the rest of the year. Motherfuckers have a whole month, a whole month and on ... Easter. What do y'all think? Drop a comment below and let me know, man.
LGBTQ Pride Month, often shortened to Pride Month, is typically celebrated in June.
Biden proclamation
Despite the narrator's claim, the president did not declare Easter "trans visibility day." Biden declared (archived here) March 31, 2024, as Transgender Day of Visibility (TDOV). Nothing changed about Easter. The two events are not linked. They happened to coincide with each other in 2024.
This was the fourth time (archived here) the Biden administration had issued "A Proclamation on Transgender Day of Visibility." The initial time was in 2021 when Biden became the first American president to do so. March 31, 2024, was the first time TDOV aligned with Easter.
President Biden, who is Catholic, released a separate statement for Easter on March 31, 2024:
Jill and I send our warmest wishes to Christians around the world celebrating Easter Sunday. Easter reminds us of the power of hope and the promise of Christ's Resurrection.
As we gather with loved ones, we remember Jesus' sacrifice. We pray for one another and cherish the blessing of the dawn of new possibilities. And with wars and conflict taking a toll on innocent lives around the world, we renew our commitment to work for peace, security, and dignity for all people.
From our family to yours, happy Easter and may God bless you.
History of Transgender Day Of Visibility
TDOV was founded in 2009 by US-based transgender activist Rachel Crandall, a licensed psychotherapist and the executive director of Transgender Michigan. TDOV has always been celebrated on March 31. Here's what the Transgender Michigan website says about it:
The first step to Empowerment is Visibility.
International Transgender Day of Visibility was created as a day to visibly celebrate being transgender. Also for allies to show their support for the transgender community.
Easter varies
Not only does Easter vary from year to year, but not everyone in Christendom celebrates it at the same time either. The Time and Date website (archived here) explains the reasons why:
When Is Easter?
Easter 2024 is Sunday, March 31. Easter is also on Sunday, May 5, a difference of five weeks or 35 days. How can this be true?
There are two dates for Easter: Western Christian churches, such as the Roman Catholic Church, celebrate Easter Sunday on March 31, 2024; Eastern churches, like the Greek Orthodox Church, celebrate Orthodox Easter on May 5, 2024. Both holidays celebrate the resurrection of Jesus Christ and both are the most important holiday for each church.
If both holidays are the same, why are they 35 days apart? Because they use different calendars: Western churches calculate their Easter date based on the Gregorian calendar, while Eastern churches use the Julian calendar.
Why Is the Orthodox Easter So Late?
The Julian calendar is currently 13 days behind the Gregorian calendar. Since the Orthodox Christian churches use the Julian calendar to calculate Easter, it would only be logical to assume that eastern Easter is 13 days behind the western Easter--both calendars are in sync and both holidays are on a Sunday.
In reality, the two Easter dates are never 13 days apart. They vary between 7 days, 28 days, 35 days, and even 0 days; yes, in some years, both Easters become one. Welcome to calendar mathematics.
Rare occurrence
While Easter and TDOV coincided in 2024, that won't happen again until 2086, according to the U.S. Census Bureau website. The next time TDOV aligns with Easter after that is 2097.
Read more
Additional Lead Stories fact checks of claims about President Biden can be read here.
