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Transgender Day of Visibility always falls on March 31. This year, so did Easter.

President Joe Biden speaks, with first lady Jill Biden, from the Blue Room Balcony toward The White House Easter Egg Roll on the South Lawn of the White House in Washington, Monday, April 1, 2024. (AP)

By Grace Abels April 1, 2024

If Your Time is short

Transgender Day of Visibility falls on March 31 every year. Easter Sunday’s date changes each year depending on the lunar calendar. In 2024, Easter fell on March 31, but that is just a coincidence.
Biden did “proclaim” March 31 the Transgender Day of Visibility, but he also “proclaimed” it “César Chávez Day” and issued a separate statement celebrating Easter.

On March 29, the Biden White House proclaimed March 31, 2024, as Transgender Day of Visibility. This move prompted outrage from social media users and political figures upset that Easter, which fell on the same day, had been "replaced" or overwritten.

"Banning sacred truth and tradition —while at the same time proclaiming Easter Sunday as "Transgender Day"—is outrageous and abhorrent," House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., posted on X.

The claims swirling across social media missed a lot of context.

It is a coincidence that Easter and Transgender Day of Visibility fell on the same day this year, and President Joe Biden released a statement for Easter, too.

Transgender Day of Visibility, a day dedicated to raising awareness about the transgender community, has been on March 31 every year since its creation more than a decade ago.

It is a fixed date like the Fourth of July, Veterans Day or Christmas. President Joe Biden issued a similar "proclamation" for March 31 in 2023, 2022 and 2021. Biden also declared March 31, 2024 César Chávez Day to honor the labor activist famous for organizing farmworkers.

But Easter’s date changes each year.

The Christian holiday celebrating Jesus Christ’s resurrection is also observed by children with chocolate bunnies and egg hunts. It fell on March 31 this year. In 2023, it fell on April 9, and the year before, on April 17.

Easter’s date is based on the lunar calendar and always falls on the Sunday following the first full moon after the spring equinox. Other roving holidays, such as Thanksgiving or Memorial Day, are based on a certain week in a given month.

In 2025, Easter will fall on April 20, a day often associated with smoking marijuana.

By issuing a "proclamation" for Transgender Day of Visibility this year, Biden did not replace or change Easter.

"As a Christian who celebrates Easter with family, President Biden stands for bringing people together and upholding the dignity and freedoms of every American," said Andrew J. Bates, White House deputy press secretary.

Here’s another holiday for the April calendar: International Fact-Checking Day on April 2!