Monday, January 30, 2017

Trump to Reverse LGBT Protections for Federal Workers This Week?

Trump with anti-gay "Christian" extremists in June, 2016
Those Republicans with LGBT friends and family members will prove themselves to be true backstabbing enemies if Donald Trump, a/k/a Der Fuhrer follows through on the promises he made to a veritable who's who of anti-LGBT hate merchants last June in New York City.  These foul individuals and their organizations, a number of which have been certified by SPLC to be hate groups, will not rest until every LGBT American be fired and discriminated against at will.  Some even what us criminalized if not executed in a few instances.  Yet these are the folks that Der Fuhrer sold his soul to - assuming, of course, that he even has one - and promised to appease by reversing President Obama's LGBT-friendly executive orders and signing the falsely "First Amendment Defense Act" which will allow open anti-LGBT discrimination by private citizens, business, government workers, and even medical providers.  The Washington Post looks at Trump's likely negation of Obama's executive order protecting LGBT federal workers.   Here are highlights:
The White House is embroiled in a debate over whether to reverse some key protections that the Obama administration extended to lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender workers, according to several people briefed on the process.
A draft of a potential executive order began circulating in Washington over the weekend that would overturn President Barack Obama’s directive barring discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity in the federal workforce and by federal contractors.

That top officials are debating whether to wade into the issue of gay and transgender rights highlights the tension the new administration faces when it comes to social issues. Trump campaigned on an economic message, but he is under pressure from the social conservatives who propelled him into office to implement their top priorities.
The issue of gay rights is particularly fraught for Vice President Pence, who as governor of Indiana signed a controversial measure expanding religious liberties in a way that gay rights groups said opened the door to legalized discrimination. A national outcry over the bill led Pence and the state legislature to weaken the measure.
Speaking to reporters Monday, White House press secretary Sean Spicer declined to comment on whether an executive order affecting gay and transgender people was under consideration.

The executive order Obama signed in 2014 had two parts. It expanded protections in federal hiring, which already barred discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation, to also include gender identity. And it required all companies doing business with the federal government to have explicit policies barring discrimination against gay and transgender workers. 
Any attempt by the Trump administration to rescind or weaken Obama’s order would essentially be an effort to “authorize discrimination” against gay and transgender people, said James Esseks, director of the LGBT program at the American Civil Liberties Union.
“The Trump administration has shown that it’s willing to go against core American values of freedom and equality, and it’s troubling to hear they may target LGBT people as well,” he said.
White heterosexuals should also know that these same religious zealots if allowed to do so would outlaw most forms of contraception.   They want to the police the bedrooms of everyone, not just LGBT individuals.  Oh, and the federal legislation Der Fuhrer promised to sign could also impact cohabiting heterosexual couples too. 

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