POLITICS
Trump Proposal Targets LGBTQ Employee Rights
Advocates alarmed by Trump reneging on promise to preserve Obama protections
BY MATT TRACY
In a move that advocacy groups say will
breed discrimination against the LGBTQ
community, religious minorities, and
women, the Trump administration on
August 14 proposed a new rule giving federal
contractors wide berth to use religion to justify
discrimination in employment.
The administration’s proposal represents
an about-face from the president’s 2017 vow to
maintain the rights of LGBTQ employees and
comes roughly two months before the Supreme
Court will hear arguments about whether or
not LGBTQ employees are protected under Title
VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act.
The proposed rule announced by the Department
of Labor’s Offi ce of Federal Contract Compliance
Programs refers to years-old executive
orders and Supreme Court decisions to justify
expanding the scope of religious freedom in the
area of employment.
The administration states that the proposed
rule “should be constructed to provide the
broadest protection of religious exercise permitted
by the Constitution and other laws.”
To that end, the administration is offering a
new interpretation of President Lyndon Johnson’s
Executive Order 11246, which required
equal opportunity for employment by private
sector federal contractors. That order, the
Trump administration states, “is intended to
make clear that religious employers can condition
employment on acceptance of or adherence
to religious tenets without sanction by the federal
government, provided that they do not discriminate
based on other protected bases.”
Trump’s proposal also argues that Johnson’s
order gives religious exemptions to “not just
churches but employers that are organized for
a religious purpose, hold themselves out to the
public as carrying out a religious purpose, and
engage in exercise of religion consistent with,
and in furtherance of, a religious purpose.”
But Trump’s order appears to contradict
President Barack Obama’s Executive Order
13672 from 2014, which amended the same order
by Johnson to include protections on the
basis of gender identity and sexual orientation
in federal contracting. In addition to protecting
contractors, Obama also amended a 1969 order
by President Richard Nixon to include sexual
orientation and gender identity as protected
classes in the federal workforce.
Trump, in 2017, specifi cally said he would
not interfere with that order, saying, “The executive
order in 2014, which protects employees
from anti-LGBTQ workplace discrimination
while working for federal contractors, will remain
THE WHITE HOUSE
President Donald Trump, seen here on August 2, has continued to
fi nd ways to take action against the LGBTQ community — and now
he has set his eyes on stripping rights away from queer employees.
intact at the direction of President Donald
J. Trump.”
Notably, Trump’s proposal did not mention
Obama’s 2014 executive order, but the two are
linked by reference to Johnson’s order and there
are concerns that it indeed targets Obama’s
order because religious exemptions could effectively
override LGBTQ rights — especially
when the order contains a disclaimer stating
that using religion as a shield to discriminate
is permitted as long as it doesn’t impact protected
classes. Sexual orientation and gender
identity are not yet defi nitively protected classes
under federal law, and the Trump proposal, in
not referencing the Obama order, ignores the
most explicit federal recognition of LGBTQ nondiscrimination
protections.
A variety of LGBTQ groups tore into the administration,
with some striking an exhausted
tone refl ecting Trump’s seemingly nonstop onslaught
against LGBTQ people and other marginalized
groups. The plans were announced
just one day after the conclusion of a comment
period regarding the administratio n’s recent efforts
to wipe out Obamacare nondiscrimination
protections for transgender people in healthcare.
“There are few values more sacred to the
equality of all in this nation than the belief that
nobody should be judged by an employer because
of who they are or who they love, yet this
administration continually seeks to undermine
that value,” Mara Keisling, executive director of
the National Center for Transgender Equality,
noted in a written statement. “Whether it’s our
right to health care, our right to housing, or our
right to equal employment, we are committed to
fi ghting every action this administration takes
against us.”
Alphonso David, a longtime counsel to Governor
Andrew Cuomo who recently became
president of the Human Rights Campaign, underscored
the reality that numerous marginalized
groups could be negatively impacted by the
rule.
“With this proposed regulation, the Trump
administration is seeking to gut existing protections
for LGBTQ people, women, and religious
minorities, and we cannot stand idly
by,” David said in a written statement. “This
regulation, which directly contradicts Trump’s
earlier promise, is a broad and sweeping effort
to implement a license to discriminate against
people on the basis of their gender identity and
sexual orientation. Everyone deserves a workplace
free from discrimination. The Trump administration
needs to withdraw this proposed
regulation and stop these attacks on LGBTQ
people.”
Lambda Legal, which focuses on advancing
LGBTQ rights through litigation, education,
and public policy, echoed David’s sentiments
and stressed that it’s important not to lose sight
of which kinds of groups would benefi t from the
proposed rule.
“Given the conservative religious affi liations
of many large institutional employers that seek
federal contracts, we know the most vulnerable
workers will be LGBTQ people, as well as Muslims,
Jews, and other religious minorities,” the
organization charged.
The move follows numerous other actions
the administration has taken against LGBTQ
people on a variety of fronts. Trump and his
inner circle have especially targeted the rights
of transgender and gender nonconforming individuals,
including the recent effort by the
administration to remove Obamacare’s protections
for transition-related care.
Trump has also moved against trans military
service, the nation’s commitment to a human
rights perspective in foreign policy, against
trans school students, and in favor of faithbased
adoption agencies rejecting prospective
LGBTQ parents.
August 29 - September 11, 10 2019 | GayCityNews.com
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