From the beginning, this Administration has targeted the LGBTQ community, particularly, transgender individuals. A number of federal departments dismantled protections that had been placed by the Obama administration, proposing rules or enacting policies that discriminated against transgender individuals. The Sunlight Foundation issued a report outlining the language changes and removal of resources helpful to the LGBTQ community from various federal agency websites.
Department of Education
One month after the Inauguration, the Department of Education (and Justice) removed the 2016 guidance regarding protection of transgender students under Title IX. One year later, the Department of Education stated it would summarily dismiss complaints from transgender students regarding claims based on gender identity discrimination. Education decided it would not take action on transgender students access to bathrooms and locker rooms based on their gender identity, despite multiple court rulings protecting that right. In November of 2019, the Department of Education published final regulations allowing religious schools to ignore non-discrimination standards.
In May of this year, the Department of Education issued a letter declaring that Title IX requires schools to ban transgender students from participating in school sports. [The Department of Justice filed a court brief in Connecticut this past March opposing the Connecticut Interscholastic Athletic Conference policy allowing transgender athletes to play sports.]
Department of Defense
In July of 2017, the president announced by tweet that the U.S. military would no longer accept transgender individuals into the military. See my blog discussing both the military and service academies singling out transgender individuals: Where is the Outcry?
Department of Justice
On the same day the president announced the military would bar transgender individuals, the Justice Department filed a brief in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit that the 1964 Civil Rights Act does not prohibit discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation.
In September of 2017, the Justice Department filed a brief in the U.S. Supreme Court arguing that businesses had a constitutional right to discriminate on the basis of sexual orientation. That October, the Justice Department instructed its attorneys to take the legal position that federal law does not protect transgender workers from discrimination. In October of 2018, Justice filed a brief in the U.S. Supreme Court that it is legal to discriminate against transgender employees, arguing that Title VII protections in the workplace do not extend to transgender workers.
Justice filed another brief in April of 2019 that federal law “does not prohibit discrimination against transgender persons based on their transgender status.”
On June 15, 2020, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the 1964 Civil Rights Act protects LGBTQ employees from workplace discrimination.
Bureau of Prisons
In May of 2018, the Bureau of Prisons in the Department of Justice adopted a policy of housing transgender individuals in federal prison facilities matching their sex assigned at birth, rather than their stated gender identity, reversing prior protections.
Department of Health and Human Services (HHS)
In January of 2018, the Department of Health and Human Services proposed a rule that allowed health care providers to use religious reasons to deny healthcare to transgender individuals. That rule was finalized in May of 2019. The HHS Office of Civil Rights opened a “Conscience and Religious Freedom Division” for health care providers to cite religious and/or moral reasons to deny care.
One year later, HHS granted an exemption to adoption and foster care agencies in South Carolina to discriminate against LGBTQ caregivers for religious reasons. In May of 2019, HHS published a rule allowing hospitals and insurance companies to deny care to patients based on religious and moral beliefs. That September, it canceled a plan that would prohibit hospitals from discriminating against LGBTQ patients as a requirement for Medicare/Medicaid funds.
In November of 2019, HHS announced it would not enforce and intended to repeal all regulations prohibiting discrimination based on gender identity, sexual orientation and religion in all HHS grant programs. On June 12, 2020, HHS finalized its rule that would remove non-discrimination protections for LGBTQ individuals in matters of health care and health insurance.
Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD)
Two months after the Inauguration, HUD announced it would remove two policies that were designed to protect homeless LGBTQ individuals. It removed links to four resource documents on its website which gave emergency shelters best practices for serving homeless transgender individuals. One year later, HUD removed language from its official mission statement regarding its commitment to inclusive and discrimination-free communities.
In May of 2019, HUD announced its plan to gut regulations that prohibited discrimination against transgender people in HUD-funded homeless shelters. Later that summer, it removed requirements that applicants who applied for homelessness funding maintain anti-discrimination policies.
On July 1, 2020, HUD announced that it planned to roll back the rule that bars federally funded homeless shelters from discriminating against transgender individuals. Secretary Ben Carson explained that the rule would “better accommodate the religious beliefs of shelter providers.”
Department of Labor
In August of 2018, the Department of Labor released a directive for Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs staff to encourage granting broad religious exemptions to federal contractors with religious-based objections to complying with non-discrimination laws. It also deleted language regarding LGBTQ non-discrimination protections.
One year later, Labor announced a proposed rule that would expand federal contractors ability to exempt themselves from equal employment opportunity requirements.
Office of Personnel Management (OPM)
In November of 2018, OPM eliminated guidance that assisted federal agency managers in understanding how to support transgender federal employees and respect their rights.
Equality Act (H.R. 5)
On May 14, 2019, the president announced his opposition to the Equality Act, which would confirm and strengthen civil rights protections for LGBTQ Americans.
Conclusion
Across every department and touching all walks of life, this administration has systematically tried to strip LGBTQ, and in particular transgender individuals, from protections against discrimination, participating in the military, supporting them in government and private businesses, housing, education and in the workplace. It has given health care professionals the right to deny healthcare during a global pandemic. Despite the fact that transgender women and particularly those of color are at highest risk of rape and murder, they imprison them according to their biology, not their gender identity. They allow groups to deny them the right to adopt or foster children, stay in homeless shelters and use the bathroom or locker room matching their gender identity. They allow federally funded contractors to discriminate and not follow EEOC non-discrimination requirements.
In a country that claims that all are equal, these actions clearly belie those words.