THANK YOU JOE - Executive Order on Day One to strengthen anti-discrimination protections for the LGBTQ+ community

[Heather Shay]

On his first day in office, President Joe Biden issued an executive order strengthening anti-discrimination protections for the LGBTQ community, marking a quick turnaround from Trump administration policy.

 

Under the new executive guidance, federal agencies are to assume that laws forbidding discrimination apply to sexual orientation and gender identity, not just race, religion, sex and national origin. The measure was part of a slew of orders Biden signed shortly after his swearing-in, as both a substantive and a symbolic rebuke of the Trump era.

 

The order suggests that enforcement agencies under Biden will be open to pursuing discrimination complaints on behalf of LGBTQ people in a way the Trump administration was not.

 

The Human Rights Campaign called it “the most substantive, wide-ranging executive order concerning sexual orientation and gender identity” ever issued by a U.S. president.

“Today, millions of Americans can breathe a sigh of relief knowing that their President and their government believe discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity is not only intolerable but illegal,” the advocacy group’s president, Alphonso David, said in a statement.

 

The Supreme Court issued a landmark decision last June ruling that Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 protects workers from discrimination related to sexual orientation and gender identity. But that ruling applies explicitly to discrimination in the workplace, whereas Biden’s executive order makes clear the safeguards extend to other areas like housing and education.

 

In a fact sheet released Wednesday, the Biden administration said the new order will “build on” the protections cemented by the Supreme Court.

 

“All persons should receive equal treatment under the law, no matter their gender identity or sexual orientation,” the White House said in a statement.

 

The Trump administration had urged the Supreme Court to rule that gay and transgender workers were not covered by Title VII, and after the ruling came down this past summer, the Trump administration tried to limit its reach. 

 

The Wall Street Journal reported Tuesday that the Justice Department’s civil rights division had recently issued a memo stating that the Bostock ruling, as it’s known, should not be applied to education and housing. The memo also argued that employers may still be allowed to discriminate against LGBTQ workers by citing religious beliefs. 

 

The executive order issued Wednesday was one that LGBTQ advocates were hoping to see immediately from the Biden administration. It should clarify that the federal government as an employer adopts the broader view of the Bostock decision as to what constitutes “sex discrimination” ― that it includes discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity ― while applying that interpretation to other laws like the Affordable Care Act, the Fair Housing Act and other parts of the Civil Rights Act.

 

“All persons should receive equal treatment under the law, no matter their gender identity or sexual orientation,” the Biden White House said on its first day.

 

The previous administration had peeled back similar LGBTQ protections in other areas. Under then-President Donald Trump, the Department of Health and Human Services tried to scuttle an Obama-era regulation that forbade discrimination against transgender people in health care settings. As with the Bostock case, that measure was based on the administration’s narrow reading of “sex discrimination.” 

 

A federal judge blocked the HHS measure from moving forward last year, ruling that it conflicted with the Bostock decision. The judge said the administration had refused to do the “sensible” thing and “pause and reflect on the decision’s impact.” 

 

Trump also reinstated the “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy on transgender people serving in the military. Biden has vowed to quickly end that policy, too. 

 

The Trump administration tried to undermine discrimination protections in smaller petty ways as well. In 2019, the Interior Department scrubbed the words “sexual orientation” from its guide on workplace discrimination. 

 

 

Dave Jamieson

Labor Reporter, HuffPost

 

Edited January 21, 2021 by Jani
Clean out ads at end of post

[KayC]

Not surprising, but still a Welcome respite from the hostile policies of the last 4 years.  Thanks for sharing Heather Shay❣️

[KymmieL]

I was wondering if president Joe signed in a law that protected us. In the stack of Executive orders he had.

 

Yeah, US.

 

Kymmie

[Mx.Drago]

6 hours ago, KymmieL said:

I was wondering if president Joe signed in a law that protected us. In the stack of Executive orders he had.

 

Yeah, US.

 

Kymmie

Joe just became President on Jan.20th,2021 at noon yesterday... Executive orders are practically all he can do now while we wait for The House and Senate to start hammering out laws to be signed. Both facilities are still kinda busy figuring this 2nd impeachment stuff and how to secure a government that was sieged by delusional traitors.

[Carolyn Marie]

That's outstanding news.  The shift in tone and policy has begun, even before his inauguration, with the nomination of a trans woman to be second in command of the Dept. of HHS.

 

There will be setbacks to come.  The more conservative courts will be sure to rule in favor of religious exemptions to many of Pres. Biden's policies. But he will fight for us for sure.

 

Carolyn Marie

[Lee H]

Hooray for sanity. Three cheers for decency. Rejoice in respite. An inspiring ray of sunlight is shining through the dark and threatening clouds; hopefully, they're dissipating. By signing this Executive Order on Day 1, our President has given it at least four years to evolve in the law, and hopefully become entwined with other Title VII non-discrimination provisions. 

 

A new day is dawning -- maybe some people will be awakening. These pioneers into public life are our national role-models. They show the world American empathy and our progress toward inclusion and equal opportunity rather than the narcissistic delusional scapegoating and blind ambition infecting the Republican Party.

 

The Republicans incited an attempt to bring our American experiment in democracy to an ignoble end; the Democrats are encouraging an attempt to bring our best American values into fruition. It feels soooo good, doesn't it?   

[ValerieRun]

Seems an appropriate topic for Politics section

[Mx.Drago]

1 hour ago, ValerieRun said:

Seems an appropriate topic for Politics section

?I agree but it's hard to hold back what small doses of sunshine rays poking out from behind the storm clouds...crazy times. Feels more like a small knot in my neck finally gave and the numb from it is beginning to kicking in. I'm hard to satisfy but my bar is so low now, the smallest of good things is like rain shower over death valley.

[Jackie C.]

2 hours ago, ValerieRun said:

Seems an appropriate topic for Politics section

 

Honestly felt more like Uplifting News to me. So that's where it is.

 

Hugs!

[Mx.Drago]

1 hour ago, Jackie C. said:

 

Honestly felt more like Uplifting News to me. So that's where it is.

 

Hugs!

?Rad

[MirandaB]

 

ABC/Ipsos poll. It was the most popular of all the Biden early executive actions. Mask mandate was #2.

[Jackie C.]

Makes you wonder what kind of person would oppose that.

 

Hugs!

[Audrey]

2 hours ago, RhondaS said:

 

ABC/Ipsos poll. It was the most popular of all the Biden early executive actions. Mask mandate was #2.

I saw this too. Heart-warming news! There is still a lot of work to do in the fight against discrimination and phobias about the LGBTQ community, but the public attitudes are slowly but surely shifting. I wonder what the geographic representation of the survey sample was.

 

2 hours ago, Jackie C. said:

Makes you wonder what kind of person would oppose that.

There are a few of them in my family, sadly.

 

Love,

~Audrey.

[KayC]

Assumed this was coming but still GREAT to see it put into ACTION!  Whoooooooooohooooooo❣️