Despite having promised to be an ally to LGBTQ Americans, Donald Trump wasted no time in imposing oppressive rules against transgender people as well as banning them from serving in the military, a decision he announced by tweet.
A federal judge froze the Trump administration's rollback of Obama-era anti-discrimination protections for transgender patients, citing a recent landmark SCOTUS decision awarding workplace discrimination protections to LGBTQ employees https://t.co/7YgLB3iyG3
— POLITICO (@politico) August 17, 2020
Trump also decided to roll back transgender discrimination rules in healthcare set in place by President Obama. On Monday, a federal judge blocked that rollback, saying that the Supreme Court had already made a ruling on the matter in the 2020 Bostock v. Clayton County, GA case. Trump’s ruling that sex discrimination in healthcare can only be defined as discrimination against a male or a female according to their assigned genders at birth, preventing transgender patients from filing sex discrimination suits when discriminated against based on their gender identity.
According to POLITICO:
‘U.S. District Court Judge Frederic Block halted the new policy one day before it was slated to take effect and admonished the Trump administration for pursuing the change after the Supreme Court ruling.’
Federal judge blocks the Trump administration’s attempt to strip transgender protections from Obamacare, explaining (correctly) that SCOTUS’ Bostock decision means “sex discrimination” encompasses anti-trans discrimination. https://t.co/KpMmL7XEfu h/t @sarahposner pic.twitter.com/Hlqzhvyo4M
— Mark Joseph Stern (@mjs_DC) August 17, 2020
The judge not only ruled in the transgender rights activists favor, he admonished the Health and Human Services department for attempting to impose these rules in light of the Supreme Court decision earlier in the year.
In the judge’s decision, he wrote:
‘Some two months ago, the Supreme Court held that discrimination based on sex encompassed discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity…it concluded that such discrimination “has always been prohibited by Title VII’s plain terms,” and that “that should be the end of the analysis.”
‘…The Court concludes that the proposed rules are, indeed, contrary to Bostock and, in addition, that HHS did act arbitrarily and capriciously in enacting them. Therefore, it grants plaintiffs’ application for a stay and preliminary injunction to preclude the rules from becoming operative.’
A Judge Blocked The Trump Administration's Effort To Roll Back Transgender Healthcare Protections https://t.co/Ccbzims147
— BuzzFeed (@BuzzFeed) August 17, 2020
Imposing such oppressive rules against a population of people who already experience some of the worst and oftentimes most violent discrimination only sets the country backward at a time when we should be moving forward. Of course, that’s also what the Trump presidency does, so it’s fitting.
‘The decision was a last-minute break for LGBTQ advocacy groups who had hoped to halt the administration’s implementation of the policy, warning it would especially create new challenges for patients during the coronavirus pandemic. However, the Obama rules have also been stalled in court under separate litigation, so the decision will change little for now.’
Federal judge blocks Trump administration from ending transgender health care protections https://t.co/imacFubmAB
— Pittsburgh Post-Gazette (@PittsburghPG) August 17, 2020
Featured image screenshot via YouTube
