Florida Governor Ron DeSantis’ campaign and Twitter owner Elon Musk rebuked President Biden’s comments on LGBTQ children.
On Tuesday, the White House shared a post directed to the LGBTQI+ community saying, “The Biden-Harris Administration has your back.”
The White House also shared a video accompanying the post featuring comments from Biden’s Thursday joint press conference with British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak.
Biden’s voiceover featured the White House with rainbow-colored lighting for Pride month.
“These are our kids,” Biden said referring to conservative criticism of exposing children to gender and transgender ideology. “These are our neighbors. Not somebody else’s kids.”
“They’re all our kids.”
To the LGBTQI+ Community – the Biden-Harris Administration has your back. pic.twitter.com/ZlUNwWOcch
— The White House (@WhiteHouse) June 13, 2023
“Our children are the kite strings that hold our national ambitions aloft,” Biden continues. “It matters a great deal how we treat everyone in this country. LGBTQ Americans, especially children: You’re loved, you’re heard, and this administration has your back.”
The Florida governor, who is currently running for the Republican nomination in the 2024 presidential election, responded through his campaign’s Twitter account, DeSantis’ War Room.
“They are not your kids,” DeSantis’ campaign wrote Tuesday.
Musk doubled down on DeSantis’ team’s response: “Our kids are not fodder for the government.”
Our kids are not fodder for the government.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) June 14, 2023
The video follows a Saturday Pride event hosted at the White House which featured transgender activist Rose Montoya, who identifies as a transgender woman.
Montoya highlighted the event in a TikTok video.
“Happy Pride month,” President Biden says on stage in Montoya’s video. “Happy Pride year. Happy Pride life.”
Montoya, who met with the President and First Lady during the event, was seen topless alongside a fellow transgender-identifying person with visible mastectomy scars.
President Biden received backlash for hosting the Pride event at the White House.
Libs of TikTok referred to the event as “a disgrace to our country.”
Montoya responded to backlash after appearing topless outside the White House by suggesting critics were “affirming” the transgender activist was a woman.
On Tuesday, the White House responded to the incident by saying Montoya and other transgender activists who went topless were “inappropriate and disrespectful.”
“It is not reflective of the event we hosted to celebrate LGBTQI+ families or the other hundreds of guests who were in attendance,” a White House spokesperson said.
White House press secretary Karine Jean Pierre reiterated the White House’s statement during a Tuesday press conference.
“The behavior was simply unacceptable,” Pierre said. “We’re going to continue to be clear on that … that type of behavior … is unacceptable. It’s not appropriate, it’s disrespectful.”
Pierre clarified the incident doesn’t reflect the Pride event hosted at the White House.
“This was not a normal thing that has happened under this administration,” she said.
Montoya has not responded to the White House’s decision to ban the attendees appearing topless as of Wednesday afternoon.