White House slammed for giving 'Women of Courage' award to biological male
WASHINGTON (TND) — The White House is getting slammed by critics after it granted a female-specific award to a biological male.
On Wednesday, first lady Jill Biden and Secretary of State Antony Blinken hosted the seventeenth annual International Women of Courage (IWOC) Awards ceremony from the White House.
The ceremony honored "11 extraordinary women from around the world who are working to build a brighter future for all," according to a press release from the Biden administration.
But one of the 11 award recipients included a biological male from Argentina who is now a transgender woman named Alba Rueda.
In Argentina Alba Rueda is a transgender women who was kicked out of classrooms, barred from sitting for exams, refused job opportunities, subjected to violence and rejected by her family," Deputy Secretary of Defense Kathleen Hicks said of Rueda during the ceremony. "But in the face of these challenges she worked to end violence and discrimination against the LGBTQI+ community in Argentina."
The move earned the Biden administration a bevy of criticism; however, this was not the first time that a sex-specific award has been given to someone born to the opposite sex.
Last year, USA Today was blasted for giving its "Woman of the Year" award to Assistant Secretary for the Department of Health and Human Services Dr. Rachel Levine, who was the nation’s first openly transgender federal official to be confirmed by the Senate.
A few months later, the University of Pennsylvania nominated transgender swimmer Lia Thomas for the NCAA's Woman of the Year award.
More recently, Hershey Canada included a transgender activist in an advertising campaign to honor International Women's Day.
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Nationally syndicated talk show host Dana Loesch argued on social media Wednesday, after Reuda was given her award, that "Erasing women is abusive."
Nice of FLOTUS to encourage the diminishment of women on 'international women's day,'" Loesch added.
"Apparently men are a lot better at being women than women are. Step up your game, ladies," Townhall columnist Derek Hunter tweeted in response.
"It's International Women's Day – a good time to remember that Democrats can't even tell you what a woman is," Arkansas Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders criticized.
