‘Jeopardy!’ Champ Amy Schneider Speaks At White House On Trans Day Of Visibility

The latest legend to come out of Jeopardy! Amy Schneider visited the White House yesterday as part of Transgender Day of Visibility on Thursday. While she initially stood at the White House Press Briefing Room podium for a snapshot, her natural charisma quickly took over as Schneider began fielding reporter’s questions. She first said she was “really honored to be here and really grateful that trans people are being celebrated in a place like this.”

When asked about transphobic bills that are being pushed through state legislatures, Schneider said, “They’re really scary, and some of them in particular that are denying medical services to trans youth, those are life-saving medical treatments. These bills will cause the deaths of children, and that’s really sad to me and it’s really frightening.”

Schneider also added that her visit to the White House hopefully shows people that as a trans person, she isn’t, “threatening, and is just a normal person like we all are. So the more that people like me can be seen, the harder it is to sustain the myths that are driving a lot of this hate and fear.” She also declined to answer a question on how the Biden administration could do more for transgender people.

While Biden was not available to meet with the Jeopardy! champ during her tour, Schneider had a meeting with Second Gentleman Doug Emhoff and joined him along with assistant health secretary Rachel Levine, who is also the first openly transgender official confirmed by the Senate, in a roundtable discussion with transgender kids and their parents.

The administration also announced several federal initiatives to make elements of the government more welcoming to trans people. The White House will make the neutral gender marker “X,” available on U.S. passport applications, and is also working to introduce “X,” options to airlines, and to be added to people’s Social Security records should they request.