It's also a celebration of the beauty and diversity of the experience, flown at Pride events all throughout the month of June. A federal district court in Idaho said that Lambda Legal had already sued and won on behalf of trans clients seeking updated birth certificates, and a federal judge concluded that the state had no interest in barring trans girls from athletics.Īdvocates warn that other state bills likely would have moved had the pandemic not shuttered legislatures, and they expect to see a resurgence of them in 2021.Over the past 40-plus years, the rainbow Pride flag has become a symbol synonymous with the LGBTQ+ community and its fight for equal rights and acceptance across the globe. However, both laws were struck down in the courts. Idaho passed two such laws in March - one that barred trans people from updating the gender on their birth certificates and another that banned transgender girls from participating in school athletics with other girls. Emboldened by the administration, states introduced more than 200 anti-LGBTQ+ bills, many of them targeting affirming health care and participation in sports for transgender children. Shelby Chestnut, director of policy and programs at the Transgender Law Center, said that work won’t be easy - and some of it may be out of the White House’s control. That, however, won’t fix everything in the eyes of advocates. A new president need only write a new order to undo that measure. In June, the president signed an order that allows religious government-funded adoption agencies to turn away LGBTQ+ couples. Trump made many changes via executive order. Sasha Buchert, a senior attorney at Lambda Legal, said that many anti-LGBTQ+ policies can be quickly reversed. “When the history books are written, I am certain that advancing LGBTQ+ equality will be one of the Biden-Harris administration’s top achievements.” “A Biden-Harris administration will consider every tool available to reverse Trump’s damaging policies and restore and advance critical protections, equality and equity for the LGBTQ+ community,” he said in a statement to The 19th. Reggie Greer, LGBTQ+ vote director for the Biden campaign, said Biden and Harris are keenly aware of how Trump administration rollbacks have hurt LGBTQ+ people. His administration is working toward policy that would allow homeless shelters to turn transgender people away. Meanwhile, the Trump administration has actively embraced policies supporting workplace discrimination against LGBTQ+ people. Biden also says he will tackle employment and housing discrimination, two critical areas that leave many exposed to violence and survival crimes, advocates say. With two months left to go, more transgender people have been murdered in 2020 than any year in recorded history.
That proposal comes in the wake of a five-year battle between intersex Navy veteran Dana Zzyym and Trump’s Department of Justice, which has repeatedly refused to issue Zzyym a passport with an “X” gender marker, despite court orders.īiden has also promised to combat what many say is a crisis of violence facing Black trans women.
It also specifically addresses Trump administration policies that LGBTQ+ organizations say are hostile.īiden has also pledged to make it easier for trans people to update their government-issued IDs, including obtaining gender-neutral passports. The plan commits to passing the Equality Act, which would add anti-discrimination protections to the Civil Rights Act of 1964. In March, Biden released a plan to reverse Trump’s anti-LGBTQ+ policies and move the community forward. In other words, a Biden administration would have a lot of work ahead just to bring the country in compliance with the law. In July, more than 100 members of Congress called on the president to direct federal agencies to review and rescind at least 32 anti-LGBTQ+ regulations and executive orders that hinge on his administration’s understanding that Title VII does not protect LGBTQ+ people. However, the Trump administration has largely not enforced the rule. The ruling is expected to have far-reaching implications beyond the workplace, because it found that sex discrimination includes protections for people who are gay and transgender. In June, the Supreme Court ruled that Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 protected LGBTQ+ workers against discrimination.
The Trump administration also outlawed the words “transgender” and “diversity” in Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports, and stopped data collection for LGBTQ+ kids in foster care.