Among the portraits of agency leaders that line the hallways at the federal Department of Health and Human Services is one of Adm. Rachel Levine, who served as Pennsylvania secretary of health and physician general before being named President’s Biden’s assistant secretary of health.

Levine was the first transgender person to win Senate confirmation when she assumed the position in 2021 that she would hold for four years.

National Public Radio reported Friday that the portrait now identifies Levine by her previous name.

“During the federal shutdown, the current leadership of the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Health changed Admiral Levine’s photo to remove her current legal name and use a prior name,” says Adrian Shanker, Levine’s spokesperson, describing it as an act “of bigot

See Full Page