Tag: executive order

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Draft Executive Order Outlines White House Plan To Legalize LGBT Discrimination

The Nation has obtained of a leaked copy of a draft executive order that would realize the fears of the LGBTQ community by legalizing discrimination.

The four-page draft order, a copy of which is currently circulating among federal staff and advocacy organizations, construes religious organizations so broadly that it covers “any organization, including closely held for-profit corporations,” and protects “religious freedom” in every walk of life: “when providing social services, education, or healthcare; earning a living, seeking a job, or employing others; receiving government grants or contracts; or otherwise participating in the marketplace, the public square, or interfacing with Federal, State or local governments.”

The draft order seeks to create wholesale exemptions for people and organizations who claim religious or moral objections to same-sex marriage, premarital sex, abortion, and trans identity, and it seeks to curtail women’s access to contraception and abortion through the Affordable Care Act.

Language in the draft document specifically protects the tax-exempt status of any organization that “believes, speaks, or acts (or declines to act) in accordance with the belief that marriage is or should be recognized as the union of one man and one woman, sexual relations are properly reserved for such a marriage, male and female and their equivalents refer to an individual’s immutable biological sex as objectively determined by anatomy, physiology, or genetics at or before birth, and that human life begins at conception and merits protection at all stages of life.”

The breadth of the draft order, which legal experts described as “sweeping” and “staggering,” may exceed the authority of the executive branch if enacted. It also, by extending some of its protections to one particular set of religious beliefs, would risk violating the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment to the Constitution.

“This executive order would appear to require agencies to provide extensive exemptions from a staggering number of federal laws—without regard to whether such laws substantially burden religious exercise,” said Marty Lederman, a professor at Georgetown University Law Center and an expert on church-state separation and religious freedom.

With this language, you have to wonder if Catholics might be able to legally discriminate against divorced people?

Advocacy groups react:

See photo copies of the draft below via The Nation (click images to enlarge):

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Washington Post Confirms Draft Of Trump Executive Order On LGBT Issues

Many LGBTs across the country have feared, since the election of Donald Trump, that our rights and protections could come under fire with a Trump administration.

It appears that our concerns may be born out later this week.

This afternoon, White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer dodged a direct question about a possible anti-LGBT executive order: “I’m not gonna get ahead of the executive orders that we may or may not issue. There’s a lot of executive orders, a lot of things that the president has talked about and will continue to fulfill. But we have nothing on that front right now.”

An hour later, Washington Post reporter Josh Rogin tweeted that there is, indeed, a draft of an executive order addressing LGBT issues.

Watch below (49:14 mark) as Spicer side-steps the question on a possible LGBT executive order:

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Trump Executive Order Targeting LGBTs Could Come This Week

It’s not all that surprising, when you consider that President Trump has promised to sign the so-called First Amendment Defense Act which would legalize anti-LGBT business discrimination nationwide, that sources are saying an executive order allowing discrimination against LGBTs is expected from the Trump White House.

The expectation is that the EO would affect areas of employment, social services, business, and adoption.

From LGBTQ Nation:

From what we’ve heard, the executive order could be far-reaching, and could include: making taxpayer funds available for discrimination against LGBTQ people in social services; allow federally funded adoption agencies to discriminate against LGBTQ parents; eliminate non-discrimination protections in order to make it possible to fire federal employers and contractors based on their sexual orientation or gender identity; and allow federal employees to refuse to serve people based on the belief that marriage should be between a man and a woman, and that gender is an immutable characteristic set at birth, which would impact a broad range of federal benefits.

The order is expected to come in the packaging of so-called “religious freedom,” which argues that someone’s religious beliefs should be enough to prevent them from having to provide goods and services to members of the LGBTQ community if doing so would conflict with said beliefs.

The Human Rights Campaign‘s JoDee Winterhof, Senior Vice President for Policy and Political Affairs, issued a statement which read in part:

“The rumors of an anti-LGBTQ executive action by President Trump are deeply troubling. We already know that he is willing to target and marginalize at-risk communities for his perceived political gain. As the President and his team plan their next steps, we want to make one thing clear: we won’t give one inch when it comes to defending equality, whether it is a full-on frontal assault or an attack under the guise of religion. Mike Pence should know that better than anyone given his track record in Indiana.

“The Human Rights Campaign will stand with those who have already been targeted by this Administration and are prepared to fight tooth and nail against every effort to discriminate.”

When asked about the reports, White House press secretary Sean Spicer refused to answer the question.

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Montana’s Gov. Steve Bullock Announces LGBT Protections Via Executive Order

Montana’s Democratic Gov. Steve Bullock celebrated Martin Luther King Jr. Day by announcing an executive order protecting LGBT folks in the state.

Via press release:

In a press conference earlier today Governor Bullock celebrated Martin Luther King Jr. day by noting that it is time to “recommit to King’s values of compassion and equity” by expanding protections for LGBT people in Montana. He also spoke to Montana’s private business owners, stating “while an executive order applies to state government only I encourage private businesses to examine their policies as well.”

“Discrimination in any form is wrong, and through his actions today, Governor Bullock has taken a bold step to expand equality and fairness for all,” said HRC President Chad Griffin. “We commend him for doing everything in his administrative power to fight for the rights of LGBT Montanans, and hope his actions encourage other government officials to make safeguarding protections for all residents and visitors a priority.”

Currently there is no federal law or regulation that explicitly bans workplace discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity, and Montana is one of 31 states where people are at risk of being fired or refused employment based on sexual orientation or gender identity.

The Human Rights Campaign adds:

The executive order, which goes into effect immediately, will direct Montana’s Department of Administration to ensure that state agencies, state contractors and subcontractors do not discriminate in employment based on sexual orientation and gender identity. The order also bans discrimination in the provision of government services, and calls for inclusive non-discrimination and harassment prevention programs with an emphasis on cultural diversity.

In 2008, former Governor Brian Schweitzer issued an executive order that protected state employees from discrimination based on sexual orientation. Today, Governor Bullock continues Schweitzer’s pro-equality legacy by extending those same protections based on gender identity, and banning discrimination on both bases by state contractors and subcontractors.

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New York: Gov. Cuomo Will Ban Transgender Discrimination Via Executive Order

Gov. Andrew Cuomo marching in Gay Pride Parade

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo has announced he will use his executive authority to ban discrimination against transgender people in housing, employment, credit education, and public accommodations statewide.

Currently, the state prohibits discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation. But after the legislature failed several times to pass a bill protecting transgender New Yorkers, the governor decided to take the apparently unprecedented step of invoking his executive powers on the matter, an administration official said.

Looking for ways to work around the log jam in Albany, lawyers in the governor’s office found that under Executive Law 2995, the New York State Division of Human Rights has the authority to promulgate regulations of the state’s Human Rights Law, the administration official said.

The proposed regulations, which the governor’s office will soon enter into the state registry for a 45-day comment period, would expand definitions of “sex” and “disability” discrimination to include gender identity, gender expression, and gender dysphoria.

Although the Human Rights Law as passed by the state legislature would not itself be amended, the new additions that apply to the law would grant the New York State Division of Human Rights power to enforce the regulations with the force of law.

In 1990, New York passed the Sexual Non-Discrimination Act which bars discrimination against gays, lesbians and bisexuals but not transgenders. Since that time the state Assembly has passed the Gender Expression Non-Discrimination Act (GENDA), which would expand the SNDA to include transgender protections, eight times. But the state Senate has refused to pass the legislation.

Cuomo has long been a champion for LGBT rights including marriage equality.

(via Buzzfeed)

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President Obama’s Executive Order On LGBT Discrimination In Federal Workplace Effective Today

(photo: Pete Souza)

Announced last year, President Obama’s executive order regarding workplace discrimination for LGBT workers in the federal workplace goes into effect today.

The executive order prohibits federal contractors and subcontractors from discriminating on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity.

From the Department of Labor blog:

Each year, federal contractors and subcontractors receive billions of taxpayer dollars to supply goods, provide services and perform construction work for government agencies.

In return, they are held to a reasonable standard that they may not discriminate in hiring, firing, pay, promotion and other employment practices.

Until today, it was discrimination based on sex, race, color, religion, national origin, disability and status as a protected veteran that was prohibited.

Now, in the first expansion since 1974, LGBT Americans enjoy these same protections.

Read the full announcement here.

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Is President Obama’s Executive Action On Immigration Unprecedented?

Click to enlarge

National Journal explains the history of immigration reform and shows that President Obama’s executive action is nothing out of the ordinary for presidents of both parties for decades:

Advocates say the president isn’t doing as much as he is legally capable of to help unauthorized immigrants, but they acknowledge that even though his executive order isn’t everything they want, it is carefully crafted to stay consistent with past White House practices.&nbsp

That won’t stop critics from blasting Obama’s actions, but it gives him a solid rebuttal.;

More at National Journal

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President Obama Will Announce His Plans For Lawful Immigration Reform Tomorrow

President Obama will address the nation tomorrow to share his plan to address immigration reform in the US. From his remarks in the video below:

“Everybody agrees that our immigration system is broken. Unfortunately, Washington has allowed the problem to fester for far too long.

“And so what I’m going to be laying out is the things that I can do with my lawful authority as President to make the system work better, even as I continue to work with Congress to encourage them to get a bipartisan, comprehensive bill that can solve the entire problem.”

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Post by The White House.

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White House Announces Coming Executive Order On Immigration Reforms

According to the New York Times, President Obama is preparing to issue executive orders concerning immigration which could affect up to 5 million people currently living in the United States.

One key piece of the order, officials said, will allow many parents of children who are American citizens or legal residents to obtain legal work documents and no longer worry about being discovered, separated from their families and sent away.

That part of Mr. Obama’s plan alone could affect as many as 3.3 million people who have been living in the United States illegally for at least five years, according to an analysis by the Migration Policy Institute, an immigration research organization in Washington.

But the White House is also considering a stricter policy that would limit the benefits to people who have lived in the country for at least 10 years, or about 2.5 million people.

The executive order by Obama would apparently take into account immigrants with strong family ties and no criminal background, placing those folks on the low end of the priority scale.

Two items of note here:

• Any executive order issued by Obama could be reversed with the stroke of a pen by a new president in 2017.

• The US Senate passed a comprehensive, bipartisan immigration reform bill last year, but the GOP led House has refused to bring the legislation to a vote.

White House officials say lawyers had been working for months to ensure any action by the president would be “legally unassailable.”

President Obama has publicly stated that he will reverse his executive orders should Congress pass meaningful immigration reform legislation.

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GOP silent on executive order banning workplace discrimination for federal LGBT employees

Huffington Post makes note of the fact that while LGBT advocates and Democratic officials hailed President Obama’s signing an executive order banning workplace discrimination for federal employees and federal contractors, and the anti-gay folks sent out their blasts decrying the policy, elected Republicans have been very quiet about the move:

Perhaps nobody better illustrated this point than House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio). HuffPost asked him Thursday if he had any reaction to Obama’s LGBT executive order.

“Nope,” Boehner said at his weekly briefing. “The president signs a lot of executive orders.”

Asked if he supports the principle of workplace protections being extended to LGBT employees, he punted again. “Listen, the president is going to make his decisions. He can,” Boehner said.

On the other side, Human Rights Campaign spokesman Fred Sainz said he considers Republicans’ silence golden. “While I would far prefer they speak on behalf of the equality their constituents support, it’s definitely evidence of our progress when some say nothing,” Sainz said.

One factor may be that Republicans simply aren’t keeping up with the flurry of LGBT rights advancements. Rep. Michael Grimm (R-N.Y.), one of the eight House GOP co-sponsors of ENDA, said Thursday that he didn’t know about Obama’s executive order. But he emphasized that if it has the same goal as ENDA — which it does, except that ENDA has far broader implications — he supports it.

The only elected Republican HuffPost could find who issued a statement on the executive order was Sen. Rob Portman (R-Ohio), who has stated he supports the policy behind the executive order because “employees shouldn’t face unjust discrimination in the workplace simply because of their sexual orientation.”