White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki broke into tears during a recent podcast appearance over, what she believes, are anti-LGBTQ laws.
She appeared on the “News Not Noise” podcast where she told the host, Jessica Yellen, that Florida’s “Parental Rights in Education” bill, and others like it are being used as a “political wedge” and a “cruel” weapon in the culture war.
“This a political wedge issue, an attempt to win a culture war,” she said as she cried. “And they’re doing that in a way that is harsh and cruel to a community of kids, especially. I’m going to get emotional about this issue because it’s horrible. It’s like kids who are bullied, and all these leaders are taking steps to hurt them and hurt their lives and hurt their families. And you look at some of these laws in these states, and it is going after parents who are in loving relationships, who have kids. It’s completely outrageous.”
“There are so many layers of this that are just outrageous, and I hope people continue to educate themselves on this because it is a bad side of politics,” she said. “And I will not cry again during this interview, I promise you. This is an issue that makes me very crazy.”
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In March, the press secretary said that the Florida bill was “hateful” because it stops teachers from talking about sexual orientation and gender identity between the grades of K-3 and requires school districts to tell parents if there are any changes to their child’s physical, mental or emotional health, except in cases of child abuse.
“Is there anything more you can tell us about the Biden administration’s efforts to keep the state of Texas from implementing a directive on care for transgender children?” a reporter said to her.
“Let me first say that the steps we’ve seen in Texas and Florida are deeply concerning and are discriminating against exactly the kind of kids who we need to be loving and supporting,” she said. “And I reference Florida because as you know they just recently passed a similar hateful bill that hurt some of the students in need.”
“In terms of any legal actions, I’d obviously point you to the Department of Justice. But I would just note that the President, the Secretary of Education, and many members of the administration have spoken out about the discriminatory nature of these bills and our deep concerns about the message they’re sending to LGBTQ kids and families,” she said.
She went on in this week’s interview to talk about how she prepares for Fox News White House correspondent Peter Doocy.
“Do you prepare specific answers for Peter Doocy every day?” the host said.
“I do have the quad boxes on my screen, which is four boxes, including Fox. And you can often tell what they may be asking about. This is based, on a particular day. It rotates through. The border. You know, don’t say gay bills, other issues that, sometimes the Iran deal. So, you know, there’s sort of a couple of topics they like to talk about,” the press secretary said.
“But I think from the beginning, it was important to the president, and to me, in speaking on his behalf, to always call on Fox, always call on other people in the room who may have a particular agenda or lean, as much as I can, because that’s part of… The story should not be that we are in a battle with them, especially at this moment in time.
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