After four years of relentless, hate-fueled attacks by Donald Trump on the rights of LGBTQ+ Americans, today’s inauguration of President Joe Biden marks an end to his reign of terror. And with it brings the new administration’s promise to repair the damage during Biden’s first day in office.
In one of his initial acts as president, Biden will issue an executive order requiring federal agencies to operate in keeping with the Supreme Court’s historic ruling in favor of LGBTQ+ workplace protections. In a 6-3 decision, SCOTUS declared that Title VII of the Civil Rights Act protects queer and transgender employees from discrimination last June, but the Department of Justice under Trump subsequently declined to enforce the ruling.
As the Supreme Court prepared to hear arguments in the landmark Bostock v. Clayton County case two years ago, the Trump administration filed an amicus brief siding with the rights of employers to terminate employees for their sexual orientation or gender identity.
According to the LGBTQ+ news site Washington Blade, the news that Biden’s administration will reverse course on its predecessors’ opposition to LGBTQ+ workplace equality came as part of a fact sheet issued Wednesday. Although the document is no longer available online, it reportedly outlined 17 total executive actions to be enacted by the Biden-Harris administration on its first day.
According to the fact sheet, the executive order will “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.”
Although a draft of the order has not been released by the White House as of press time, the fact sheet highlights the new administration’s pledge to ensure everyone receives equal treatment under the law, “no matter their gender identity or sexual orientation.” Sources also told the Blade that Biden would instruct the Defense Department to overturn Trump’s near-total ban on trans enlistment in the U.S. armed forces, though that was not included on the fact sheet.
Eliza Byard, executive director of the LGBTQ+ education nonprofit GLSEN, praised the executive order for addressing civil rights protections neglected by the Trump White House.
“This order signals the new administration’s plan to advance LGBTQ+ equity through an intersectional lens that centers all of our most vulnerable communities, including LGBTQ+ people of color, LGBTQ+ people with disabilities, and LGBTQ+ immigrants,” Byard said in a statement. “We look forward to working with the Biden Administration to continue to advance LGBTQ+ students’ rights by supporting the Safe Schools Improvement Act and the Equality Act, strengthening federal survey data collection on LGBTQ+ students’ experiences and identifying ways to direct additional school resources to programs that support underserved LGBTQ+ students and educators.”
In a statement, incoming White House press secretary Jen Psaki outlined additional executive actions on LGBTQ+ rights that will be issued in the weeks to come. As them. previously reported, the new administration is preparing to reinstate former President Barack Obama’s 2016 guidance allowing trans students to use the bathroom and locker room most suitable for them at school.
Even as Biden makes initial moves to protect LGBTQ+ rights — with passage of the Equality Act as one of his stated policy goals — the Trump administration continued chipping away at queer and trans equality on its way out. Last month, Trump finalized a rule that allows federal contractors to discriminate against LGBTQ+ employees in defiance of the Supreme Court’s decision. Although it’s likely to be overturned by Biden, the decision would affect the one-fifth of American workers estimated to be employed by federal contractors.
And as the Wall Street Journal reported on inauguration day, the outgoing officials leading the Department of Justice issued a memo this week requiring that the agency not extend the Title VII protections established in the Supreme Court’s ruling to other areas, such as policies on gendered restrooms and sports teams.
The memo also tacitly approved faith-based objections to hiring LGBTQ+ employees.
Biden’s forthcoming directive on LGBTQ+ rights protections will be part of a broader slate of executive actions issued by the new administration on its first day. Among many other provisions, those orders reportedly include extending federal student loan forbearance through September, keeping an eviction moratorium in place through March, rejoining the Paris climate accord, reversing Trump’s Muslim ban and the expansion on immigration enforcement, and stopping the construction of the border wall.
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