White House spokesperson Jen Psaki expressed her belief that “LGBTQ+ young people” have “increased mental health issues” in comparison to the general population during a press conference on Monday. Psaki is reportedly planning to leave the White House for a media gig at MSNBC.
“A question about college sports: in some places like the Ivy League now, there are biological males competing against women. Does the White House think that is fair?” Fox News’ Peter Doocy asked Psaki during Monday’s press conference.
“Well, I would note that we’re not the governing body for the NCAA, uh, or, uh, any other system out there that we’re probably referring to over in, in swimming, in the NCAA,” Psaki replied. “Uh, we understand how important sports are to student athletes across the country but the NCAA obviously makes, uh, puts these policies in place.”
NOW – Psaki says "we're seeing increased mental health issues… especially [among] LGBTQ+ young people."pic.twitter.com/7HY4feEEgg
— Disclose.tv (@disclosetv) April 4, 2022
Psaki continued, “Uh, what I would say, uh, Peter, if we look at this broadly is that we celebrated international transgender day of visibility last week with a slate of new actions to ensure we are continuing, uh, continuing to protect the dignity and identity of all Americans.”
“And at a moment, uh, where we’re looking at and we’re seeing increased mental health issues related to young people, especially LGBTQ+ young people, we’re providing additional funding and resources to address this issue and we hope all leaders can focus, oh, those important issues and the impact on these young people who, uh, many are impacted across the country,” Psaki concluded.
It remains unclear how many LGBTQ+ activists will respond to Psaki’s assertion that the Biden administration believes LGBTQ+ young people have increased mental health issues.
Psaki’s comments were lauded by many conservative activists on social media, though the press secretary did not cite any official sources or peer-reviewed data.
