Trump wants to reestablish multiple policies regarding trans Americans that were in place during his first term, including housing trans people in federal prisons based on their sex assigned at birth. With his inauguration Trump seeking to cement a broader message: trans and nonbinary people don’t exist. And people are lining up to resist.
The White House website describes the president’s wish to “establish male and female as biological reality and protect women from radical gender ideology” is given as an example of how Trump plans to bring back American values.
Trump is directing federal agencies to exclude transgender people when enforcing laws that protect against sex discrimination. How bad can it get? With that in mind we have put together his ten worst acts of Transgender and non-binary discrimination:
- Coming Soon - Erased transgender people. Trump’s HHS proposed a new definition that would narrowly define sex as either male or female, unchangeable, and determined by birth. According to the New York Times: “The new definition would essentially eradicate federal recognition of the estimated 1.4 million [transgender] Americans.” In addition, agency staff, including those at the Centers for Disease Control, have been instructed to stop using the word transgender in official reports.
- Eliminated information on LGBTQ rights, mentions, and representation on government websites: Within hours of Trump’s swearing-in, pages on LGBTQ rights and recognition were removed from government websites, including the White House.
- Blocked questions regarding sexual orientation from consideration for the census: Trump and Pence have sought to block questions on sexual orientation from the census in order to erase LGBTQ people from official counts.
- Refused to recognize LGBTQ people in National AIDS day Address. Despite being the community most affected by the epidemic, Vice President Pence has consistently refused to acknowledge LGBTQ people in his addresses on National AIDS day.
- Undermine Section 1557 Rule with a proposed major change to the administrative rule interpreting Section 1557 of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) to remove explicit protections for LGBTQ people in healthcare programs and activities by excluding LGBTQ people from protections from discrimination based on sex stereotyping and gender identity.
- Created a Religious Discrimination Division whose sole purpose would be to defend physicians and other medical professionals who decide to refuse care, including to LGBTQ patients.
- Proposed FY 2019 budget, Trump cut $1.35 billion from, or 29% of PEPFAR’s budget. PEPFAR is the U.S. government program that fights AIDS abroad
- Supported employment discrimination against LGBTQ people: The Trump administration submitted amicus briefs to the U.S. Supreme Court supporting discrimination against LGBTQ people.
- Trump and Pence banned transgender people from serving in the military.
- Trump’s Department of Justice upended previous DOJ interpretations of the Civil Rights Act that protect transgender and non-binary workers from employment discrimination.
- Trump’s Department of Labor issued a regulation designed to allow federal contractors to claim a religious exemption to fire LGBTQ workers because of sexual orientation or gender identity.
- Created a hostile work environment for LGBTQ federal employees: According to Politico: “[The Trump administration] fostered a climate where six staffers who areu LGBT described removing their wedding rings before coming to work in the morning, taking down photos of their partners and families or ultimately finding new jobs further away”
- Amongst many, many more.
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