Wednesday 15 June 2022 10:55 PM President Biden declares war on 'ultra-MAGA' laws that target gay and ... trends now

President Joe Biden fired a broadside in the nation's culture wars on Wednesday, condemning hundreds of 'ultra MAGA' laws that he said discriminated against gay and transgender people.

Speaking before he signed an executive order designed to roll back the impact of more than 300 laws, he described it as a battle for the soul of the nation.

'I don't have to tell you about the ultra-MAGA agenda, attacking families and our freedoms,' he said at an event marking Pride Month at the White House.

'Three hundred discriminatory bills introduced in states across this country...

'In Texas, knocking on front doors to harass and investigate parents who are raising transgender children.

'In Florida going after Mickey Mouse for God's sake.' 

Florida has become a key battleground, with conservatives turning on Disney because of the way it opposed a law banning school teachers from holding classroom discussion on sexual orientation or gender identity.

Measures unveiled on Wednesday are designed to help schools skirt state laws limiting support they can give to transgender children, and include a 'full-court press' against the discredited practise of conversion therapy - religious training programs designed to change sexual identity - which could include issuing consumer warnings against it.

But using an executive order means Biden can only direct agencies to try to find ways around the slew of legislation. Administration lawyers are already engaged in trying to unpick some of the laws.

None of that mattered to the noisy crowd that packed the East Room, cheering the president as he gave shout-outs to key gay and transgender officials in his administration. 

They included Admiral Rachel Levine, assistant secretary for health, the first openly transgender four-star officer in the nation's uniformed services, and Shawn Skelly, undersecretary of defense.

'The first and second transgender Americans to be Senate confirmed in American history,' Biden added to whoops.

Javier Garcier, a gay Florida student who led walkouts in protest at Florida's Parental Rights in Education bill, also received a rousing reception as he described how he had been bullied.

'But I had an escape from this: My openly gay fifth grade teacher,' he said.

He created a classroom that made me feel welcomed.

'I even remember noticing his rainbow socks.'

Biden closed with a call to arms. 

'We're in a battle for the very soul of this nation,' he said. 

'And that's not hyperbole. We're in a battle for the soul of the nation. 

'When I look around this room here and all you hear today, it's a battle I know we will win.'

Gender identity is among the most fraught of the frontlines in America's culture wars.

Conservative lawmakers have passed a string of bills this year directed at transgender youth. Some bar discussion of gender identity in the classroom of limit participation in sports.

Republican Governor Ron DeSantis in Florida signed into a law a bill bans any classroom conversation around sexual orientation and gender identity for children in kindergarten through third grade.

Officially it is known as the Parental Rights in Education law - but opponents deride it as the 'Can't Say Gay' law and warn that it means vulnerable children cannot get the support they need.

And in Arizona, Governor Doug Ducey signed a law preventing physicians from performing 'irreversible gender reassignment surgery' on minors. 

Biden's executive order will direct agencies to push back.

It instructs the Department of Health and Human Services to protect families from attacks on access to healthcare by releasing policies on expanding services.

And it directs the Department of Education to device a sample school policy to promote inclusion for LGBTQI+ students.  

Conversion therapy is also singled out for attention. 

'President Biden is also encouraging the Federal Trade

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