Biden Signs Sweeping Executive Order for LGBT Rights

The Trump/Pence regime waged a relentless war against LGBT Americas throughout its four years of misrule and efforts to grant special licenses to discriminate to Christofascists. Through policies, revised regulations, and arguments against LGBT rights in the courts, including the Supreme Court, the goal was to make LGBT Americans' lives as miserable as possible all to maintain favor with evangelicals and scamvangelist grifters. On the first day of his presidency, Joe Biden signed an executive order (the order can be found here) rescinding Trump's efforts and implementing the Supreme Court's ruling in Bostock v. Clayton County which held that laws and regulations that ban discrimination based on sex extended to members of the LBGT community.  A piece in the Washington Blade looks at this welcomed development which hopefully will be a precursor to enactment of the Equality Act which would implement a national ban on anti-LGBT discrimination.  Here are article excerpts:

President-elect Joe Biden, on his first day in office Wednesday after taking the Oath of Office,  signed an executive order directing federal agencies across the board to implement the U.S. Supreme Court’s historic ruling against anti-LGBTQ discrimination under federal law.

The Biden transition team listed the executive order in a fact sheet Wednesday detailing each of the 17 administrative actions Biden was set to take on Inauguration Day. Among them are orders that end the travel ban on Muslim countries, launch the “100-day mask challenge” and re-engage with the World Health Organization after the U.S. withdrew during the Trump administration.

The executive order implementing the decision in Bostock v. Clayton County comes nearly six months after the Supreme Court issued the ruling, which found anti-LGBTQ discrimination is a form of sex discrimination, thus illegal in the workplace under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. The ruling has wide-ranging implications and affects all laws against sex discrimination, including those in education, housing, credit and jury service.

“All persons should receive equal treatment under the law, no matter their gender identity or sexual orientation,” the fact sheet says. “The Biden-Harris Administration will prevent and combat discrimination on the basis of gender identity and sexual orientation.”

The fact sheet says the Biden executive order “will also direct agencies to take all lawful steps to make sure that federal anti-discrimination statutes that cover sex discrimination prohibit discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity, protecting the rights of LGBTQ+ persons.”

After Biden’s election, LGBTQ rights advocates had begun calling for the executive order to implement the Bostock decision, which had gone by the wayside under the Trump administration. Instead of implementing the ruling, the Trump administration ignored it and sought to engage in legal maneuverings to limit its scope.

LGBTQ advocates have also been calling for passage of the Equality Act to expand the prohibition on anti-LGBTQ discrimination in federal law and round out LGBTQ protections the Bostock ruling won’t reach. Biden had pledged during his campaign to sign the law within 100 days.

It remains to be seen whether he’ll be able to make that commitment with a shrunken Democratic majority in the House and a 50-50 party split in the U.S. Senate. A Biden campaign spokesperson indicated Biden would unveil his legislative priorities in the coming days in response to a Blade inquiry about the Equality Act.

Sources had told the Washington Blade the transition team told LGBTQ leaders Biden would direct the Defense Department on Day One to reverse the transgender military ban, which was implemented by President Trump. A directive that would reverse the policy wasn’t listed on the fact sheet of administrative actions.