President Joe Biden shared some criticism for Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) on Monday, saying he was “uninformed” in his criticism of the White House for the Easter holiday falling on the same day as Transgender Day of Visibility.
Over the weekend, Johnson criticized Biden for rules preventing religious symbols from being used in its Easter egg art contest and for the timing of Transgender Day of Visibility.
“The Biden White House has betrayed the central tenet of Easter — which is the resurrection of Jesus Christ,” Johnson wrote in a post to social media. “Banning sacred truth and tradition—while at the same time proclaiming Easter Sunday as ‘Transgender Day’—is outrageous and abhorrent. The American people are taking note.”
Biden was asked about the criticism, saying to reporters that he “didn’t do that.”
“He’s thoroughly uninformed,” Biden said on Monday.
The White House shared that Biden declared Sunday Transgender Day of Visibility because it always falls on March 31, while Easter is a different date every year, falling any Sunday from late March to mid-April.
This year, both days fell on the same date.
The White House also noted that rules barring religious symbols from being used in the egg contest are not new to this administration and were the same followed during former President Trump’s term.
Elizabeth Alexander, the communications director for First Lady Jill Biden, took to social media to clear the air, calling the criticism “misleading.”
“*Fyi on all the misleading swirl re White House and Easter: the American Egg Board flyer’s standard non-discrimination language requesting artwork has been used for the last 45 years, across all Dem & Republican Admins—for all WH Easter Egg Rolls —incl previous Administration’s,” Alexander wrote on X.