Joe Biden’s administration on Wednesday awarded activist Alba Rueda, a biological male who identifies as a woman, with the International Women of Courage award during this year’s Secretary of State’s International Women of Courage Award Ceremony.
The U.S. State Department claims the award is for “extraordinary women from around the world who are working to build a brighter future for all.”
The recipient of the award, an Argentinian self-described “transgender woman,” was celebrated by First Lady Jill Biden and Biden Secretary of State Antony Blinken for working to “end violence and discrimination against the LGBTQ+ community” in his home country in the face of being “kicked out of classrooms, barred for sitting exams, refused job opportunities, subjected to violence, and rejected” by his family.
Biden celebrates #InternationalWomensDay by highlighting a biological male.
First Lady Jill Biden and Secretary of State Antony Blinken awarded Alba Rueda, a biological male & transgender activist from Argentina, one of 11 of the International Women of Courage (IWOC) Awards. pic.twitter.com/Y3qDjQAI87
— Caleb Parke (@calebparke) March 8, 2023
Reuda, the South American nation’s very first “Undersecretary for Diversity Policies” in the “Ministry of Women, Gender, and Diversity,” is the current “Special Envoy for Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity” in Argentina’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, International Trade, and Worship.
“Ms. Rueda was the driving force behind Argentina’s executive order on the transgender labor quota in the public sector which was converted into the Transgender Labor Quota Act,” a statement on the Secretary of State’s International Women of Courage Award website reads.
La Representante Especial sobre Orientación Sexual e Identidad de Género de la @CancilleriaARG, activista y militante trans, Alba Rueda, fue reconocida con el Premio a las Mujeres de Coraje del @StateDep.
El galardón fue entregado por el secretario @SecBlinken y @FLOTUS#8M pic.twitter.com/zQKz9NHNyC
— Cancillería Argentina 🇦🇷 (@CancilleriaARG) March 8, 2023
The Argentinian man who believes he is female “actively campaigned to change the name of the National Women’s Conference to the ‘Plurinational Conference of Women and Lesbian, Cross-Dresser, Transgender, Bisexual, Intersex, and Non-Binary Persons’ to include diverse, dissident, and racialized identities,” the statement continues.
Ethiopian journalist Meaza Mohammed, Jordanian human rights activist Hadeel Abdel Aziz, and female activist Bakhytzhan Toregozhin were additional recipients of the award.
The State Department says “awardees will participate in an in-person International Visitor Leadership Program (IVLP) exchange to connect with American counterparts in cities across the United States and strengthen their global networks of women leaders.”
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