President Donald Trump at CPAC 2017, Photo: Gage Skidmore / Flickr
On Monday, President Donald Trump issued an executive order allowing companies that do business with the federal government to avoid disclosing past instances of discrimination or violating labor laws.
Trump’s order rescinds an Obama-era executive order that required companies with federal contracts to report whether they have been found liable for violations of any labor laws or executive orders, including those that prohibit discrimination against protected classes of people, including LGBTQ individuals. The executive order also instructed federal officials to consider those violations when awarding contracts.
LGBTQ legal advocacy organization Lambda Legal slammed Trump for rescinding Obama’s executive order. The group’s CEO, Rachel Tiven, called the now-rescinded regulations in the order a valuable enforcement tool intended to hold employers responsible for violations of nondiscrimination laws. She also encouraged LGBTQ employees of federal contractors, and those with HIV, to contact the organization if they believe their rights have been discriminated against because of their sexual orientation or HIV status.
“This sends a message that the government condones discrimination,” Tiven said of Trump’s actions. “Scrapping an order like this one is different than not adopting one. It’s not surprising given Donald Trump’s sordid history with women that this administration is allowing companies to hide sex discrimination — including sexual harassment.
“Furthermore,” Tiven added, “this administration is inviting businesses to the table that violate equal pay and fair wage laws, ignore laws requiring family medical leave, or target employees for discrimination based on race, sex, gender identity, gender non-conformity (including being gay or lesbian), disability (including HIV), and numerous other grounds. All of these things violate the law. Companies that flout the law should be sued — not invited to win our tax dollars.”
The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development has proposed a new rule that would allow federally funded shelters and temporary housing providers to discriminate based on gender.
Under the proposal, homeless shelters and other housing providers could bar transgender people from single-sex facilities that do not match their assigned sex at birth.
The rule removes all references to "gender" and "gender identity" from HUD regulations, replacing them with "sex," as defined by an executive order issued by President Donald Trump last year. The order states that federal agencies will recognize only a person's assigned sex at birth on government-issued documents and for purposes of accessing government services or housing options.
A political action committee backing U.S. Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) is facing criticism over a campaign ad attacking Massie’s Republican primary opponent, Eddie Gallrein, for ties to Paul Singer, a Jewish billionaire hedge fund manager and longtime supporter of same-sex marriage.
According to Mediaite, the ad -- produced by Restore Freedom PAC, a project of Hold The Line PAC -- has aired ahead of the May 19 Republican primary and seeks to portray Gallrein as insufficiently conservative on social issues and out of step with the "Make America Great Again" movement.
Colorado Gov. Jared Polis has signed a law allowing survivors of conversion therapy to sue for damages under the state's medical malpractice law.
Polis signed the bill on June 1, the first day of Pride Month, at The Center on Colfax, an LGBTQ community center in Denver, reports Colorado Newsline.
The Democratic governor also signed an executive order directing state agencies to ensure that no state funds are used to cover the cost of, or reimburse practitioners for, efforts to forcibly change a person's sexual orientation or gender identity.
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