Disconcerting news out of the White House last Wednesday, August 14, 2019, with President Trump’s Administration permitting government contractors to discriminate against LGBT employees. According to Truthout.org, this new order will include “for-profit corporations, schools and societies — may make employment decisions that align with their religious beliefs, which would including firing gay people, trans people and unmarried women who become pregnant”. 

Despite rumor that this change was to take effect Friday, August 16, 2019, the governmental process requires a 30 day public response period, however private companies may be able to opt out sooner using the Hobby Lobby and Masterpiece Cakeshop cases as leverage.

On Friday, August 16th the Trump Administration filed a brief with the Supreme Court to argue that transgender workers are not protected under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act.

We at Gender Justice League remain committed in the fight for the rights of the Transgender community and stand against the Trump Administration and this brief.

This latest attack was submitted in the case of Aimee Stephens, a transgender woman who was fired from her funeral home job after announcing that she was transgender and was beginning her transition. The funeral home states that Aimee Stephens was fired due to non-compliance with their sex-specific dress code and that the dress code burdens men and women equally.

The US Supreme Court today in a 5-4 decision granted the Department of Justice’s request for a stay on the lower courts preliminary rulings, which have been protecting transgender troops allowing them to openly serve in the military. With this stay on the preliminary rulings, the Trump Administration is permitted to enforce the ban on Transgender troops.

As we have announced previously our founder Danni Askini has stepped down as Executive Director of our organization. Today we would like to announce our new Co-Executive Directors, Elayne Wylie and Tobi Hill-Meyer.

In a recent development concerning our lawsuit against the Trump administration’s transgender military ban, the Department of Justice (DOJ) attempted to circumvent the lower district court’s preliminary ruling by escalating the case directly to the Supreme Court. In this unusual move, the DOJ justifies this immediate review as it involves an issue of imperative public importance “the authority of the U.S. military to determine who may serve in the Nation’s armed forces.”

It seems the Trump Administration is not content with attempting to remove trans servicemembers from our military. In their newest attack, leaked internal memos discovered by The New York Times this Sunday describe a strategy to define “gender” as man and woman by birth sex. Federally, this memo doesn’t appear to be anything new. The memo has many conflicting details and does not specify any clear plan of action. HHS does not own Title IX - the Dept of Education does and HHS does not have direct power in the rule-making or defining of gender under Title IX. What is clear by this memo is the intent of the admission to regulate transgender people out of existence.