Black, Hispanic, queer: Joe Biden’s cabinet most inclusive in US history

US President Joe Biden has the most diverse and inclusive cabinet in US history, with 10 women, six Black Americans, four Hispanics, and the first Native American to hold a Cabinet post. Kamala Harris, the Vice President and one of the best-known faces in the Biden administration became the first Black-Asian American woman to be elected for the post. Here are some of the examples that manifest the diversity and inclusiveness in President Biden’s cabinet.

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Pete Buttigieg, on February 3, 2021, became the Secretary of Transportation and the first openly queer cabinet member.

Rachel Levine, under Biden administration, became the Assistant Secretary for Health on March 26, 2021, and also became the first openly transgender US federal official to be confirmed by the senate. 

Michael Regan, an American environmental regulator and the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, on March 11, 2021, became the first African-American to serve that role.

Alejandro Mayorkas, a lawyer, on February 2, 2021, became the first immigrant and Hispanic to serve as Secretary of Homeland Security. He is a Cuban-American by origin, and previously headed the Citizenship and Immigration Services in Barack Obama’s tenure as the president.

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Katherine Tai is an American attorney who holds the position of Trade Representative and became the first Asian-American on March 18, 2021. 

Lloyd Austin, a former army four-star general, currently serves as the Secretary of Defense. He became the first African-American to hold the position on January 22, 2021.

Janet Yellen is an economist and a policymaker and serves as the Secretary of the Treasury since January 26, 2021. She served as Chair of the Federal Reserve from 2014 to 2018. She became the first woman to hold either role in the US.

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Chinese-American attorney Chris Lu once emphasised the inclusiveness one feels in President Biden’s cabinet. “The meetings can help align priorities, build morale, and allow Cabinet members to develop relationships with colleagues who they don’t normally see,” Lu said. One of the first things Biden had promised to change as the president was the lack of diversity in the cabinet. And It is safe to say that he has upheld it.