By MARK LINDSLEY
Staff Writer
President Trump has made his position on transgender issues and rights very clear since taking office. The words and actions of Trump and numerous government agencies over the past year have painted a picture of a hateful and unequal America.
Trump’s announcement on March 23 brought that picture into sharp focus.
CNN reported that Trump “announced a policy to ban most transgender people from serving in the U.S. military.” The White House said that the decision will disqualify “transgender persons with a history or diagnosis of gender dysphoria” from military service, a categorization that could include the majority of transgender people.
Trump’s long list of transgender discrimination includes: not believing schools need to protect their transgender students, not caring if transgender individuals are homeless, believing employers should be allowed to deny them jobs, stating that insurance companies should be allowed to deny them healthcare, not wanting them to serve in the U.S. military and not wanting them to participate in our national censuses. Trump does not even believe that they should have civil rights.
While Trump does do plenty of talking, the actions of his regime speak for themselves. A list of these unconstitutional and un- American actions can be found on transequality.org.
The Justice and Education departments withdrew their 2016 landmark guidance, that Title IX laws apply to transgender students, in February 2017, according to transequality.org.
Executive Director of the National Center for Transgender Equality, Mara Keisling, responded to this, saying, “Transgender students thrive when treated equally, but too often they are not.
“These young people already face incredible hurdles in their pursuit of education and acceptance. With a pen stroke, the Trump Administration effectively sanctions the bullying, ostracizing, and isolation of these children, putting their very lives in danger.”
Noel Alumit, who has more than 20 years of experience assisting LGBTQ community programs, said that on March 26, 2017, the Trump administration removed “sexual orientation” and “gender identity’” as proposed subjects for inclusion on future iterations of the Decennial Census and/ or American Community Survey.
Federal Policy Director at the Williams Institute
Adam Romero, responded by saying, “Without federal data on LGBT populations, the ability of federal, state, and local governments to make evidence-based public policy that also reflects the experiences and needs of LGBT Americans is significantly undermined.”
Transequality.org listed another adversarial act against the LGBTQ community that occurred on April 14, 2017 – the Justice Department’s abandonment of their lawsuit that challenges the ani-transgender law in North Carolina.
Some feel that Attorney General Je Sessions is the reason why the Department of Justice is targeting the rights of the transgender community.
“While the federal government is abdicating its responsibility, discriminatory measures like HB2 and its successor will not stand, because they have brought too much shame and harm to the people of North Carolina,” said Mara Keisling.
On July 26, Trump tweeted, “the United States Government will not accept or allow Transgender individuals to serve in any capacity in the U.S. Military.”
Judge Colleen Kollar- Kotelly of the Federal District Court for the District of Columbia temporarily blocked Trump’s transgender military ban on Oct. 30, writing, “There is absolutely no support for the claim that the ongoing service of transgender people would have any negative effective on the military at all. In fact, there is considerable evidence that it is the discharge and banning of such individuals that would have such effects,” according to The New York Times.
The Justice Department also released a memo on Oct. 5, 2017 that instructed that the oficial legal position is that federal law does not protect transgender workers from discrimination,” according to transequality. org.
Director of the American Civil Liberties Union’s LGBT & HIV Project James Esseks responded. “Today marks another low point for a Department of Justice which has been cruelly consistent in its hostility towards the LGBT community and in particular its inability to treat transgender people with basic dignity and respect,” he said, according to ABC.
Fortune reported on Jan. 18, 2018 that the Trump administration is developing a healthcare policy where workers could refuse to treat transgender people or perform abortions.
These new healthcare rules would also punish employers who don’t allow employees to object to treating patients on the basis of religion or morality.
The list of the Trump administration’s attacks against transgender people and the entire LGBTQ community continues to expand. They are continuing to fight for their rights, while the Trump administration continues to try and take more of them away.
