Joe Biden Signs Executive Order Reversing Trump’s Transgender Rights Removal In Healthcare
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President Joe Biden has signed what’s being described as the ‘most substantive’ LGBTQ+ executive order in US history.
Since being sworn into office yesterday, January 20, Biden has already signed some huge executive orders, including reversing Trump’s so-called ‘Muslim ban’, and one that will see the US rejoin the Paris Climate Agreement.
After Trump sought to erase transgender civil rights, Biden’s executive order will allow federal agencies to assume that laws forbidding discrimination also apply to sexual orientation and gender identity, just like it does for race, religion, sex and national origin.
Thanks to the new order, Biden’s enforcement agencies will also be able to pursue discrimination complaints on behalf of LGBTQ+ people, the Huffington Post reports.
Biden has been a long-time supporter of the LGBTQ+ community and was the first person to acknowledge transgender people in his presidential victory speech in November.
In addition to this, he recently nominated Rachel Levine, a transgender doctor, for Assistant Health Secretary.
Responding to the signing of the new executive order, the Human Rights Campaign said ‘millions of Americans can breathe a sigh of relief’.
The campaign’s statement read:
Biden’s Executive Order is the most substantive, wide-ranging executive order concerning sexual orientation and gender identity ever issued by a United States president. Today, millions of Americans can breathe a sigh of relief knowing that their President and their government believe discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity is not only intolerable but illegal.
By fully implementing the Supreme Court’s historic ruling in Bostock, the federal government will enforce federal law to protect LGBTQ people from discrimination in employment, health care, housing, and education, and other key areas of life.
It continued, ‘While detailed implementation across the federal government will take time, this Executive Order will begin to immediately change the lives of the millions of LGBTQ people seeking to be treated equally under the law. The full slate of Day One Executive Orders mark a welcome shift from the politics of xenophobia and discrimination to an administration that embraces our world, its people and its dreamers.’
The Human Rights Campaign finished the statement stating that it looks forward to ‘continuing to engage with the White House, Department of Justice and other agencies’ in a bid to ensure that Bostock is properly implemented.
The White House added in its own statement, ‘All persons should receive equal treatment under the law, no matter their gender identity or sexual orientation.’
If you’ve been affected by any of these issues and want to speak to someone in confidence, contact the LGBT Foundation on 0345 3 30 30 30, 10am–6pm Monday to Friday, or email [email protected]
Topics: News, Executive Order, Joe Biden, LGBTQ+ Rights, Now, President Biden, US News
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