You voted to roll back our civil and human rights, allow discrimination against us, and relegate us once again to second-class status. You voted to allow this evil man and his monstrous administration to come after LGBT people, our families, our lives, our jobs, and our love. We warned you, we tried to reason with you, some of us even pleaded with you... but you did it anyway, and then you had the gall to gaslight us, telling us we were wrong to worry about Trump because he managed to spit out the letters "LGBTQ" at his convention and grabbed a rainbow flag onstage once. But whaddya know -- we were right after all, and the destruction of our basic civil liberties that your vote has enabled is unfolding now before our very eyes.
We will defeat this evil because we will outlive and outlast and
outfight it, but we will *never* forget the way you voted to oppress and
degrade and dehumanize us.
SHAME on you.
SHAME on you.
-----
An
executive order President Trump signed Monday rescinded an executive
order President Obama implemented that would have required companies
that contract with the federal government to provide documentation about
their compliance with various federal laws. Some have argued
that this will make it harder to enforce the LGBT protections President
Obama implemented for employees of federal contractors — as well as
many other protections those workers enjoyed.
Trump
rescinded the Fair Pay and Safe Workplaces order, also known as
Executive Order 13673, that President Obama issued in 2014. That order
required companies wishing to contract with the federal government to
show that they’ve complied with various federal laws and other executive
orders.
Notably, Obama issued that order in tandem with Executive Order 13672, which prohibited contractors from discriminating on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity.
Executive Order 13673 was enjoined by a federal judge
in Texas back in October, but had it been implemented, it would have
improved accountability for businesses that contract with the federal
government. Enforcement of 13672, the LGBT protections, does not require
this order, but would have been stronger with it. Whatever its fate in
court may have been, it’s now gone forever.
LGBT
people are particularly vulnerable to discrimination, even with 13672
still in place. Obama’s LGBT executive order amended previous
presidential orders that also protected the employees of contractors on
the basis of race, color, religion, sex, national origin, disability,
and age, but all of those other categories are also afforded protection
under various federal laws (the Civil Rights Act, the Americans with
Disabilities Act, and the Age Discrimination in Employment Act). Sexual
orientation and gender identity are the only identity categories without
explicit nondiscrimination protections under federal law, and fewer
than half the states offer LGBT protections at the state level.
That
means Obama’s executive order is the only legal force protecting over a
million workers.
Camilla
Taylor, senior counsel at Lambda Legal, was the first to raise concerns
that this change would impact the LGBT community. As she explained to Keen News Service,
“It’s sending a message to these companies…that the federal government
simply doesn’t care whether or not they violate the law.”
National
Center for Lesbian Rights Executive Director Kate Kendell also said in a
statement, “President Trump’s quiet take-down yesterday of federal
safeguards against employment discrimination for millions of LGBT
Americans is yet another example of why our elected officials,
advocates, and our community must remain vigilant and continue working
together to stop this administration’s regressive and harmful policies.”
When a draft of a “religious freedom” executive order
that would have licensed discrimination against LGBT people was
circulating, the White House tried to stir up some positive press by
promising that it would “leave in place” Obama’s 2014 order protecting
LGBT workers.
“President
Trump continues to be respectful and supportive of LGBTQ rights,” the
statement read.
The New York Times’ Jeremy Peters fell over himself to praise the statement
for using “stronger language than any Republican president has before
in favor of equal legal protections for gay lesbian, bisexual, and
transgender people.”
It’s not a surprise, however, that Trump is walking back other executive orders that weaken the LGBT protections. Trump promised to undo all of Obama’s executive orders.
That “religious freedom” executive order hasn’t gone away either.
A month after the draft leaked
and the White House assured LGBT people it wasn’t signing it at that
time, White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer told The Heritage
Foundation’s Daily Signal that it was still coming. “I think we’ve
discussed executive orders in the past, and for the most part we’re not
going to get into discussing what may or may not come until we’re ready
to announce it,” he said at the time. “So I’m sure as we move forward we’ll have something.”
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