President Biden will give the Medal of Freedom to 17 recipients next week, including gymnast Simone Biles, soccer star Megan Rapinoe, Apple Founder Steve Jobs and more.
Biles, who has won a combined 32 Olympic and World Championship medals, has testified before Congress about the sexual abuse she faced from Dr. Larry Nassar and has been an advocate for athletes’ mental health and children in foster care.
Rapinoe, an Olympic gold medalist and two-time World Cup champion, has spoken publicly on gender pay equality, racial injustice and LGBTQ issues. She publicly sparred with the Trump administration. When the U.S. team was in the quarter finals in 2019, Rapinoe said she was ‘not going to the f*****g White House‘ if her team won.
Trump called her the ‘woman with purple hair’ who lead a team of ‘leftist maniacs.’
In addition to posthumously giving the medal to the late Apple founder Steve Jobs, the White House will award the late Republican Sen. John McCain and the late Richard Trumka, former head of AFL-CIO, the largest federation of labor unions.
McCain and Biden were close during their Senate days and Biden nominated his wife Cindy to serve as ambassador to the United Nations agencies in Rome.
Meghan McCain, the senator’s daughter and opinion contributor for DailyMail.com, said: ‘It is a great honor for my family that our father will be recognized for his lifelong dedication to his country and posthumously awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom.’
Actor Denzel Washington will also receive the medal, with the White House noting that in addition to his film career he’s served as national spokesman for the Boys and Girls Club for 25 years.
Former Representative Gabby Giffords, who was shot and now runs an organization dedicated to gun violence prevention, will receive a medal, as will civili rights attorney and activist Freddie Gray.
The ceremony will be held next week on July 7. The Medal of Freedom is the nation’s highest civilian honor. It is awarded to those who ‘have made exemplary contributions to the prosperity, values, or security of the United States, world peace, or other significant societal, public or private endeavors,’ according to a White House announcement.
Apple founder Steve Jobs and Sen. John McCain will receive the Medal of Freedom next week
Megan Rapinoe, who traded barbs with Trump during his administration, will receive the medal
Simone Biles, who has won a combined 32 Olympic and World Championship medals, has testified before Congress about the sexual abuse she faced from Dr. Larry Nassar and has been an advocate for athletes’ mental health and children in foster care. She will receive the medal next week
Actor Denzel Washington will receive the medal after a career in film and as spokesman for the Boys and Girls Club
Others who will be awarded are Sister Simone Campbell, who runs a Catholic social justice organization, Dr. Julieta Garcia, president of University of Texas at Brownsville, Father Alexander Karloutsos, former Vicar General of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America, Khizr Khan, a Gold Star father and advocate for religious freedom, Sandra Lindsay, a New York nurse who was the first person to take the Covid vaccine in America outside of clinical trials.
The medal will go to civil rights advocates Diane Nash and Raúl Yzaguirre and former Wyoming Republican Sen. Alan Simpson, who the White House said ‘has been a prominent advocate on issues including campaign finance reform, responsible governance, and marriage equality.’ In addition, it will go to Brigadier General Wilma Vaught, one of the most decorated female generals in U.S. history.