Biden Outplays GOP & Restores Obama Legacy On Gay Rights

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Donald Trump’s math goes something like this. Two plus two is 12 1/2. But politics is about addition. The Republicans continue to narrow down to the white supremacist few, and that is why Democratic efforts to expand the party can bring a win in 2022 — with a lot of work. So, here is what President Joe Biden is doing along that front.

President number 46 is in the process of reversing the most egregious aspects of the former administration as a top priority. But POTUS’ efforts have more to do with doing what is fair, what is right, and what supports our neighbors than cold politics. That is why his administration is protecting gay and transgender people against sex discrimination within the health care dimension.

Arkansas was the first state to implement Trump’s HHS policy, according to The Scientific American:

‘In late March, the Arkansas State House and Senate voted to prohibit health care workers in the state from providing gender-affirming health care to transgender and other gender-diverse young people. While the decision was vetoed by the governor on April 5, the state legislature overrode that veto the next day. Meanwhile the Alabama State Senate approved a law in March to make it a felony for doctors to provide gender-affirming health care to transgender youth.’

North Carolina also proposed a similar bill:

‘And a bill proposed in North Carolina would outlaw gender-affirmative care for people younger than 21. Several other U.S. states are pursuing similar legislation.’

The Biden Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) just announced it agrees with the interpretation of the federal laws forbidding “sex discrimination in health care also protect gay and transgender people.”

The draconian Trump policy conveniently changed that definition saying, according to the Associated Press:

””[Sex” means the] gender assigned at birth, thereby excluding transgender people from the law’s umbrella of protection.’

HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra released a statement that read:

‘Fear of discrimination can lead individuals to forgo care, which can have serious negative health consequence. Everyone — including LGBTQ people — should be able to access health care, free from discrimination or interference, period.’

He added that this presidential policy falls within the Supreme Court decision regarding a workplace discrimination case. This important case defined the federal laws against sex discrimination at work to include gay and transgender people.

Trump’s people argued that “as a legal matter health care discrimination was a separate issue from the employment case the Supreme Court decided.” A federal judge blocked the rules from going into effect.

The Biden HHS Office for Civil Rights will move against sex discrimination:

‘[O]n the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity. Hospitals, clinics and other medical providers can face government sanctions for violations of the law.’

His administration has basically been implementing President Barack Obama’s policy within the Affordable Care Act (ACA/Obamacare). The ACA prohibits sex discrimination in health care. Obama’s HHS interpreted the law to include gay and transgender people. The broader interpretation of the law is:

‘[U]nderstanding of sex shaped by a person’s inner sense of being male, female, neither or a combination.’

“Gender dysphoria is” discomfort or distress caused by a discrepancy between the gender that a person identifies as and the gender assigned at birth. Consequences can include severe depression. Treatment can range from gender confirmation surgery and hormones to people changing their outward appearance by adopting a different hairstyle or clothing.’

Both civil rights and medical organizations support the broader definition, too. Conversely, some social and religious conservatives try to narrow the defintion.

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