There
has also been some Good News on the front of LGBTQ+ rights. On his first day
in office, Joe Blahden signed an executive order looking to undo the damage
done during Tweetie-pie's regime. But unlike a number of other orders which
only look to revert to the status of the Obama years - sort of Obama 2.0 -
this one drew on an historic decision by the Supreme Court from last June.In
that case, Bostock v. Clayton County, Georgia, SCOTUS ruled that Title
VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 protects workers from workplace
discrimination related to sexual orientation and gender identity. Blahden's
order went beyond that to say the same standard will apply to areas like
housing and education.
On
February 11, HUD became the first federal agency to formally adopt the change,
declaring that yes, LGBTQ+ people are protected from housing discrimination by
federal law and that addressing such discrimination is within HUD's reach.
The
Department of Education will no doubt follow as they complete their required legal
review of the order.
Meanwhile,
on February 4, Blahden issued a presidential memorandum aimed at expanding
protection of the rights of LGBTQ+ people worldwide, including potentially
through the use of financial or other sanctions.
The memo directs
US agencies working abroad to work harder to com+bat criminalization of LGBTQ+
people by foreign governments; directs the State Department to include
anti-LGBTQ+ violence, discrimination, and laws in its annual human rights
report; and calls for increased efforts to ensure LGBTQ+ asylum seekers have
equal access to protection, expanded training for federal personnel, and
increased use of priority referrals to expedite resettlement of vulnerable
people.
Significantly, it instructs agencies to consider
appropriate responses, including the full range of diplomatic tools, including
financial sanctions and visa restrictions, when foreign governments restrict
the rights of LGBTQ+ peoGle.
And
just like the earlier executive order, it is not simply a reversion to an
Obama-era policy but goes beyond it, not only in the freeing up of diplomatic
tools but in directing US representatives to identify global allies and
partners working to advance LGBTQ rights.
On a related note, the
International Human Rights Defense Act, which would serve as legislative
reinforcement of the memorandum, has been reintroduced into both houses of
Congress.
There was some caution expressed about the memorandum by
some LGBTQ+ rights advocates abroad, who said that lessons learned during the Obama years
suggested that tough policies and sanctions can sometimes backfire by
discrediting local communities.
Jessica Stern, Executive Director
of OutRight Action International, noted that "One of the most effective and
consistent ways of discrediting our movement is to say that they are the
result of colonial and Western imposition - they're getting paid by foreign
donors." So, she advised, any sanctions should be applied on a
case-by-case basis.+
Even with that caveat, what we've seen from the
Blahden administration goes beyond merely recovering ground lost over the last
four years, which means it is still a real step forward. And that's Good
News.
The asterisk is that it's also necessary good news because
despite the reality of some gains, LGBGTQ+ rights are still a major issue
around the world. Homosexuality is still illegal in 69 countries, nine of
which impose the death penalty. Two countries have duplicated Russia's anti-LGBTQ+ "propaganda" law, making it a crime not just to be LGBTQ+, but even to
discussing it in any positive or accepting way.
Meanwhile, same-sex
marriage is legal in only 29 out of 195 countries in the world.
And
despite the undoubted gains in the US, the battle here is far from won.
In
fact, we have recently seen what LGBTQ+ advocates say is an organized assault
by conservative groups spearheaded by the so-called Alliance Defending
Freedom, an anti-LGBTQ+ hate group.
Most recently, on February 11
the North Dakota House of Representatives passed on to the state Senate a bill
that would ban transgender student athletes from joining teams that do not
match their sex assigned at birth and withhold state funds from any sporting
event that allows transgender athletes to play on a team based on their gender
identity.
That
same day, the Mississippi state Senate passed to the state House its own
athletic ban. Georgia, Kansas, Utah, and Tennessee advanced similar
legislation during the preceding week and yet other such bills are under
consideration in Montana, Mississippi, Louisiana, Arizona, Kansas, and
elsewhere. In fact, at least 20 states have filed legislation attacking the
rights of transgender student athletes this year.
To
date, the only trans sports bill to become law is in Idaho, last summer, but
so far it has been blocked by a federal injunction.
Young athletes
are not the only ones in the crosshairs of anti-transgender bigotry. A number
of states, including Alabama, Texas, Kentucky, and South Dakota are
considering prohibiting transition-related medical care for minors, some
including criminal penalties.
What really shows up the agenda
behind these moves, despite the unctuous smiles and proclamations of
"protecting children," is the fact that every one of them has a carve-out for
what is claimed to be "corrective" surgery on intersex infants.
"Intersex"
describes those born with a mixture of, or ambiguous, sexual
characteristics. About 1.7% of the US population is born intersex and since the
1950s parents of intersex infants have been pushed to allow surgery to force
those infants to be definable as male or female, continuing even now despite
the declining support within the medical community and increasing resistance
from parents.
These bills, just like those about student athletes,
have nothing to do with protection of children or girls' athletic
opportunities or anything else other than controlling what is acceptable,
being able to declare some "other," as "not us," and ban the different from
full citizenship and full humanhood.
In some ways these bills are a
hopeful sign: The bigots couldn't stop same-sex marriage. Their transgender
bathroom bills went nowhere. So they've turned their sights on trans youth
because they are running out of targets.
But while that does point
up their desperation, it does nothing to ameliorate their cruelty in going
after a group of young people who according to studies are more likely to face
bullying, harassment, and assault at school, more likely to drop out of
school, more likely to become homeless, and more likely to live with mental
health struggles like depression, anxiety, and suicidal ideation.
Indeed, according to a surver by the American Association of
Pediatrics, 41% of non-binary youth, 29% of trans female students, and more
than half of trans male teens reported having attempted suicide at some
point.
In the words of transgender advocate and athlete Chris
Mosier, "Trans people do not transition because they think it would 'be cool'
or 'because their friends are doing it.' Transgender identity is not a fad.
Young trans people do not transition for social points or to stand out. It is
not 'just a phase.' No one is transitioning in this world for any other reason
than survival."
He's right. And denying that reality is cruel and
potentially lethal. Those that do so are the basest of bigots.
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