Congressman Steven Horsford on the Trump Administration’s Attempts to Gut LGBTQ+ Protections

Washington, D.C. — Today, the Trump administration announced its latest attack on LGBTQ+ Americans, adding an overtly broad religious exemption to the Executive Order put in place by President Obama in 2014 that prohibits discrimination in hiring by federal contractors on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity.

The Department of Labor's Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP) announced its intention not to enforce nondiscrimination requirements if a contactor claims to be acting according to their religious beliefs, which will negatively impact LGBTQ+ people, women and religious minorities.

"The Trump administration will stop at nothing to deny basic human rights to Americans across the country, whether that is stripping legal immigrants of their rights to assistance programs or refusing the LGBTQ+ community civil rights protections in the workplace," Congressman Steven Horsford (NV-04) said of the announcement. "These are hard-fought protections for communities that spent years living through discriminatory practices — and now, these Americans will be back to fighting for basic rights and respect. I will continue to stand in defiance of this administration's constant attacks and support the LGBTQ+ community as we work to push back against this discriminatory rule."

Key impacts from this notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM) include:

• An expansive interpretation of Masterpiece Cakeshop, Trinity Lutheran, and Hobby Lobby decisions, privileging the interests of religious entities over all other considerations except race discrimination
• Applies the religious exemption to entities that hold themselves out to the public as carrying out a religious mission
• Applies the religious exemption to entities that condition employment of acceptance of or adherence to religious tenets
• Allows for-profit entities to be religious organizations entitled to a religious exemption for employment purposes

The proposed rule could allow termination when an employee marries a person of the same sex, refuse spousal benefits to said couple, or could acknowledge that an employee is transgender but then require modified dress and/or provide no access to facilities consistent with gender identity.

In addition to impacting LGBTQ+ employees of federal contractors, the proposed rule would allow federally-funded contractors to use religion to justify employment discrimination against women and religious minorities.

Earlier this year, Congressman Horsford joined Rep. David Cicilline as an original co-sponsor of the Equality Act (H.R. 5). The Equality Act amends the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and other existing laws to ensure that LGBTQ individuals are afforded the same protections against discrimination as every other American.