President Donald Trump has revoked an executive order that once protected LGBTQ employees from discrimination.
Keen News Service reports that a White House executive order was signed Monday that rescinds the Obama-era Fair Pay and Safe Workplaces order, which protected employees of federal contractors from discrimination by forcing clients of the federal government to demonstrate that they have complied with 14 anti-discrimination laws over a three-year period. Protections were geared at the LGBTQ community, in particular, safeguarding employees from harassment and discrimination based on their gender identity or sexual orientation.
With the executive order officially rescinded, contracted companies no longer have to prove that they are adhering to LGBTQ protections within their corporate structures. While Executive Order 13672—which bans federal contractors that make over $500,000 in government-funded profits from discriminating against LGBTQ employees—still stands, activists are concerned that the federal government will not enforce it, because it was verified through the Fair Pay and Safe Workplaces order. In other words, if companies no longer have to demonstrate that they’re adhering to LGBTQ anti-discrimination protections, then the federal government has no way to enforce Executive Order 13672.
The federal government has effectively blinded itself to discrimination.
“It’s sending a message to these companies… that the federal government simply doesn’t care whether or not [contractors] violate the law,” Lambda Legal’s senior counsel Camilla Taylor told Keen News Service.
Taylor stresses that, even though the Fair Pay and Safe Workplaces order has been revoked, Lambda legal will still “make sure companies understand their obligation not to discriminate,” as “the substance of the laws are still there.”
Trump, saw you just rolled back protections for LGBT federal employees. Come for us? We’ll make you regret every remaining day in office.
— George Takei (@GeorgeTakei) March 29, 2017
