(LifeSiteNews) – A new book is poised to promote cross-dressing Biden administration health official Richard “Rachel” Levine as an inspirational figure for overcoming adversity, advertised as being suitable to children as young as six years old.
Once merely the embattled Pennsylvania Secretary of Health, in March 2021 President Joe Biden appointed Levine, a man who “identifies” as female, to serve as assistant secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), giving him significant influence over federal abortion and gender policy. In October 2021, Biden promoted him to the rank of four-star admiral in the U.S. Public Health Service Commissioned Corps (PHSCC), despite his lack of prior military service.
Levine has been a lightning rod for derision from the right and adoration from the left, the latest manifestation of which comes courtesy of a new report from Fox News.
June 6 will see the release of She Persisted: Rachel Levine by author Lisa Bunker. Billed as suitable for children age 6-9, the book is the latest in a series about “women who spoke up and rose up against the odds.
“As the first openly transgender government official to hold an office that requires Senate confirmation, the first openly transgender four-star officer in uniform service, and the first female four-star admiral in the commissioned corps, Rachel Levine faced many obstacles throughout her life,” according to the book’s promotional materials. “But she persisted through them all and showed kids of all genders that they can succeed in their dreams too.”
The title features an introduction by former presidential daughter Chelsea Clinton, who calls it a “perfect choice for kids who love learning and teachers who want to bring inspiring women into their curriculum,” complete with a “list of ways that readers can follow in Rachel Levine’s footsteps and make a difference.”
Critics argue, however, that Levine is not so much an inspiration as he is a cautionary tale.
Conservatives have argued that, as a so-called “trans woman” who endorses and promotes the notion that individuals can change their “gender identity” at will, Levine lacks the medical competence and/or objectivity to be entrusted with hot-button transgender issues, as evidenced by his outspoken support for “gender affirmation” and “sex reassignment” treatment for minors despite significant evidence of danger.
In a 2017 lecture, he endorsed puberty-blockers for gender-confused children throughout puberty, followed by “sex change” surgery at 18. While transgender surgery “usually” is performed only on adults, Levine said “there are exceptions.” During Levine’s 2021 confirmation hearings, Republican U.S. Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky slammed him for refusing “to say, absolutely, minors shouldn’t be making decisions to amputate their breasts or to amputate their genitalia.”
Apart from Levine’s gender dysphoria, Levine also ran Pennsylvania’s draconian COVID-19 response, which included pushing nursing homes to readmit COVID patients and ordering two-year-olds to wear masks in public. His nursing home stance was particularly controversial in light of the revelation that he moved his 95-year-old mother out of a nursing home at the same time. He claimed it was done at his mother’s request, but critics say it showed that Levine knew the risks of his policy guidance.