TL;DR

• HHS replaced Admiral Rachel Levine’s official portrait nameplate with her deadname.
• Critics call it a petty, bigoted misuse of government authority.
• The alteration occurred during the federal shutdown, raising procedural concerns.
• HHS claims it’s “correcting” information to reflect “biological reality.”
• Advocates warn it’s part of a broader campaign to erase trans people from public life.

HHS Deadnames Trans Admiral in Brazen Act of Bureaucratic Pettiness

A portrait, a shutdown, and a whole lot of ugly politics

In a move so small yet so spectacularly mean-spirited it could only come from a government agency with far too much time and not enough ethics, the Department of Health and Human Services quietly replaced Admiral Rachel Levine’s name with her deadname on her official portrait. Yes, really — during a federal shutdown, no less. It’s the bureaucratic equivalent of a middle-school bully ripping someone’s name off their locker and pretending it’s “policy.”

Levine, the groundbreaking Assistant Secretary for Health and the first openly transgender person confirmed by the U.S. Senate, once hung proudly among the portraits of past leaders on the seventh floor of the Humphrey Building. But while the nation was distracted by the shutdown, someone at HHS apparently decided their emergency duties included cracking open the mounted glass and slipping in a nameplate intended to erase her identity.

Shutdown rules restrict employees to tasks involving immediate threats to public safety and health. Re-labeling a portrait with a deadname — an act carrying all the dignity of a bathroom-stall scribble — is nowhere on that list. But here we are.

The defense: “gold standard science” wrapped in culture-war sloganeering

HHS, now helmed by Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., defended the stunt with a statement claiming the department is simply striving for “gold standard science.” They further argued they were correcting “harmful policies enacted by Levine” and embracing “biological reality.” Translation: the same tired anti-trans talking points dressed up in bureaucratic beige.

For LGBTQ Americans, especially trans people, this messaging isn’t just a dog whistle — it’s an air horn. Each line echoes the administration’s wider campaign to erase transgender identities from official documents and public life. Changing government language, stripping resources, rewriting histories — it’s all part of the same playbook. And now, apparently, even someone’s official portrait isn’t safe.

Former staffers call out the cruelty

Adrian Shanker, who once served as Levine’s deputy, wasn’t shy about stating the obvious. He told The Advocate that while Levine spent her tenure battling HIV, curbing STI surges, improving mental health, and expanding nutrition access, the current crop of political appointees appear more interested in “small acts of pettiness and bigotry.”

He didn’t mince words: it’s unfair to Levine and unfair to the American public, who deserve leaders focused on health, not harassment. But most importantly, he highlighted what this really is — not a policy disagreement, not a procedural correction, but a deliberate attempt to diminish a trans public servant by attacking her identity.

Shanker added that the portrait stunt fits neatly into a pattern of erasing transgender people from public institutions. “They’re obsessed,” he said — and the evidence backs him up. When a government becomes so fixated on undermining the rights, recognition, and even existence of a minority population, it’s no longer governance. It’s harassment with a letterhead.

Levine responds with dignity — as usual

Levine herself, traveling and unavailable for interviews, offered only a calm, professional statement through Shanker. She emphasized her continued commitment to health equity and public well-being: “My focus has been and continues to be on how we can advance health equity and public health for everyone.” And then she declined to dignify the “petty action” further.

It’s a masterclass in grace under fire — something her detractors, busy tinkering with nameplates during a shutdown, might want to study.

What happened to Dr. Rachel Levine is not a small incident. It’s not a clerical error. It’s not an innocent oversight. It’s a calculated act meant to humiliate and erase a trans woman who shattered ceilings and served the nation honorably.

Deadnaming is psychological violence — a deliberate dismissal of a person’s identity. When it comes from the federal government itself, the message to every trans American is chilling: We can erase you whenever we feel like it.

Trans people have fought for decades to be seen, respected, and protected. When an administration starts rewriting plaques, documents, and histories to reflect a bigoted ideology instead of reality, it signals a broader attack on LGBTQ existence. It undermines trust in public institutions, fuels stigma, and emboldens those who already seek to harm queer and trans communities.

But here’s the thing bigots never understand: every attempt to erase us only proves how unshakeably present we are. Rachel Levine’s legacy hasn’t dimmed — it’s the pettiness of her detractors that’s now immortalized.