Trump maintains Obama’s executive order to protect gay rights but angers more people

The White House said on Monday that President Trump would leave in place a 2014 Obama administration order that created new workplace protections for gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people.

In a White House statement, the president was proud to embrace gay rights, saying that “President Donald J. Trump is determined to protect the rights of all Americans, including the LGBTQ community.”

“President Trump continues to be respectful and supportive of L.G.B.T.Q. rights, just as he was throughout the election,” the statement said. “The president is proud to have been the first ever G.O.P. nominee to mention the L.G.B.T.Q. community in his nomination acceptance speech, pledging then to protect the community from violence and oppression.”

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The Obama order banned companies that do federal work from discriminating against gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender employees. It was the first time the government explicitly protected federal workers from discrimination based on gender identity.

Sadly for Trump, the move didn’t make ANYONE happy as gay rights advocate Chad Griffin, president of the Human Rights Campaign, said Trump was setting a low bar by claiming credit for not overturning the actions of his predecessor.

“L.G.B.T.Q. refugees, immigrants, Muslims and women are scared today, and with good reason,” Mr. Griffin said. “Donald Trump has done nothing but undermine equality since he set foot in the White House.”

From the right wing came more criticisms.

“President Trump should not continue to impose Obama’s bad executive order that goes far beyond federal law. The fluid and subjective term ‘gender identity’ does not prevent discrimination in the work place but rather injects in the workplace an agenda that is harmful to businesses and to other employees. Such a policy opens women’s restrooms to men. To force businesses to be at the mercy of a person’s subjective and changing thoughts or be forced to allow those with ill intent to cause harm is absurd,” said Mat Staver, Founder and Chairman of Liberty Counsel.

Homosexuals represent 3-5% of the American populus with transgenders being 0.04%. The strides made to accommodate the small factions of society over the last decade has been amazing.

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Butter Bracco - Roxanne "Butter" Bracco began with the Dispatch as Pittsburgh Correspondent, but will be providing reports and insights from Washington DC, Maryland and the surrounding region. Contact Roxie aka "Butter" at [email protected] ATTN: Roxie or Butter Bracco