New policy announced in Oct. 25 memo
A U.S. agency has omitted from its employment policy an explicit prohibition on discrimination against LGBT workers, flouting executive orders prohibiting such discrimination in the federal workforce.
A look at the Equal Employment Opportunity statement for the U.S. General Services Administration, which manages functions of government agencies, reveals no mention of prohibiting discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity, even though other categories — race, color, national origin, religion, gender, age, disability and genetic information — are spelled out.
That marks a change from when the categories of sexual orientation and gender identity were explicitly included in a 2015 edition of the policy as a subset of sex discrimination. The memo say that policy will only become outdated in 2022.
David Stacy, government affairs director for the Human Rights Campaign, said in a statement the removal is another attempt of “the Trump-Pence Administration actively seeking to undermine rights for LGBTQ people” and called for restoration of the categories.
“The GSA’s move to exclude sexual orientation and gender identity from their Equal Employment Opportunity statement is mean-spirited, deceptive and irresponsible,” Stacy said. “The GSA’s EEO statement is meant to inform workers and applicants about their legal protections — protections that federal employees have had for decades. Cutting specific mention of sexual orientation and gender identity protections is a slap in the face to LGBTQ federal employees who proudly serve, and sadly signals that this administration does not value them. The GSA should immediately restore the previous, accurate EEO policy.”
November 10, 2017
Acting Administrator Timothy Horne, whom Trump appointed upon his inauguration on Jan. 20., announced the new EEO policy in a memo to workers on Oct. 25, emphasizing the importance of nondiscrimination in the workforce — but left out potential discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity.
“EEO is a critical component of GSA’s efforts to recruit, develop and retain the
By CHRIS JOHNSON, WASHINGTON BLADE
most qualified, diverse workforce possible to support our agency’s multifaceted strategic mission,” Horne wrote. “Toward that end, it is GSA’s policy that all employees and applicants for employment be afforded equal opportunities in employment without regard to race, color, sex, national origin, religion, age, genetic information, disability or retaliation for engaging in an EEO-protected activity.”
The removal of sexual orientation and gender identity from the policy contravenes
In response to the Blade’s inquiry on why the current EEO policy omits LGBT categories, a GSA spokesperson said the 2015 memo that included an explicit prohibition on discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender still “is in full effect.”
“GSA is proud of our diverse and talented workforce and is committed to ensuring all agency employees feel welcome,” the spokesperson said. “GSA prohibits discrimination in the workplace and will continue to make sure our employees’ legal rights are protected.”
The spokesperson didn’t immediately respond to the Blade’s follow-up email on why LGBT categories were omitted in subsequent material if the 2015 memo is still in effect.
In theory, the removal could open up workers at the General Services Administration to discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity. Those workers should be still be able seek recourse under the Clinton and Obama executive orders and cite the 2015 memo if necessary. Federal laws against sex discrimination, which courts are increasingly interpreting to apply to LGBT people, would also cover workers there. The General Services Administration employs an estimated 12,000 federal workers.
A similar situation emerged in June when the Commerce Department under Wilbur Ross removed LGBT categories from its nondiscrimination policy, but promptly reinstated them after media attention. A spokesperson at the time said the omission was an oversight and the department “never intended to change the policy or exclude any protected categories.”