Transgender Rachel Levine to be featured in high-profile children’s book series on women

Transgender Rachel Levine, the assistant secretary for health for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, will be featured in an upcoming installment of a children’s book series about women called, “She Persisted: Rachel Levine” by author Lisa Bunker.

Levine is also the head of the U.S. Public Health Service Commissioned Corps and is a biological male. In the book, Levine is referred to using female pronouns.

The Biden official transitioned to female in 2011 but was previously married to Martha Peaslee-Levine. They share a son and daughter, according to the National Women’s History Museum. The couple divorced in 2013.

“And Rachel was born transgender or trans for short. That means that she was born with a boy body, but on the inside, in her mind, and in her heart, she was a girl,” the book asserts. “The first time that Rachel knew for sure that she was a trans girl was when she was five years old.”

Chelsea Clinton provides the introduction for the book and it is set to be released on June 6, 2023.

“Inspired by the #1 New York Times bestseller She Persisted by Chelsea Clinton and Alexandra Boiger comes a chapter book series about women who spoke up and rose up against the odds–including Rachel Levine!” the book description gushes. “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. But she persisted through them all and showed kids of all genders that they can succeed in their dreams too.”

“In this chapter book biography by critically acclaimed author Lisa Bunker, readers learn about the amazing life of Rachel Levine–and how she persisted,” it continues. “Complete with an introduction from Chelsea Clinton, black-and-white illustrations throughout, and a list of ways that readers can follow in Rachel Levine’s footsteps and make a difference! A perfect choice for kids who love learning and teachers who want to bring inspiring women into their curriculum.”

The book was inspired by Clinton’s picture book series of the same title that tells the stories of women like Oprah Winfrey, Sonia Sotomayor, and Greta Thunberg.

Author Lisa Bunker worked for 30 years in public and community radio, before she began writing full-time. She lists her “geekeries” as “chess, piano, gender, story craft, and language,” according to her biography.

Levine has vigorously advocated for “gender-affirming care” and has called on the government to affirm the country’s youth so as “not to limit their participation in activities in sports and even limit their ability to get gender affirmation treatment in their state,” according to a July statement.

There is no argument among medical professionals – pediatricians, pediatric endocrinologists, adolescent medicine physicians, adolescent psychiatrists, psychologists, etc. – about the value and the importance of gender-affirming care,” Levine told NPR in an interview last May.

Levine was also excoriated in December after she called on Big Tech companies to censor “misinformation” that disputed gender-affirming care for children was not of “positive value.”

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