A Jeffin’ outrage
AG undercuts LGBTQ protections
THE TRUMP administration Friday appeased its evangelical base and angered critics with a pair of policies undercutting protections for LGBT people and narrowing an Obamacare mandate requiring birth control coverage.
On one front, Attorney General Jeff Sessions issued a government-wide guidance that could override many anti-discrimination protections for LGBT people and others.
Sessions instructed federal agencies to do as much as possible to accommodate those who claim their religious freedoms are being violated.
“Except in the narrowest circumstances, no one should be forced to choose between living out his or her faith and complying with the law,” Sessions wrote.
The move backs up an executive order issued by President Trump in May.
While the memo does not specifically mention gay or transgender people, it does instruct government agencies to take religious freedom issues into account when crafting regulations, enforcing laws, distributing grants and assigning contracts.
Conservative and religious leaders were ecstatic over the shift in direction.
“President Trump is demonstrating his commitment to undoing the anti-faith policies of the previous administration and restoring true religious freedom,” said Tony Perkins, president of the Family Research Council.
The Alliance Defending Freedom, a conservative Christian law firm, called it “a great day for religious freedom.”
Liberal and LGBT advocacy groups were outraged.
“This blatant attempt to further Donald Trump’s cynical and hateful agenda will enable systematic, government-wide discrimination that will have a devastating impact on LGBTQ people and their families,” said Chad Grifin, president of the Human Rights Campaign.
The directive comes one day after Sessions reversed an Obama-era policy that explicitly said transgender workers were protected under employment discrimination laws.
Friday’s memo states religious employers are entitled to only hire workers whose beliefs and conduct are “consistent with the employer’s religious beliefs” and that some legal principles extend “not just to individuals, but also to organizations, associations, and at least some for-profit corporations.” The phrasing opens the door for blatant discrimination, according to critics.
“Our laws protect the free exercise of religion, while also ensuring that all Americans are equally protected under law,” state Attorney General Eric Schneiderman said. “Today, the Justice Department misguidedly has placed its thumb on the scale and prioritized the first of these fundamental rights over the second.”
The Trump administration also moved Friday to roll back the federal requirement for employers to include birth control in health insurance plans.
The Health and Human Services Department will allow more employers with religious objections to opt out of the contraceptive coverage rule instituted under the Affordable Care Act.
The administration estimated 200 employers who have already voiced objections to the Obamaera policy would qualify for the expanded opt-out, and 120,000 women would be affected.
The American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists said the expansion could reverse progress in lowering the rate of unintended pregnancies.
“HHS leaders under the current administration are focused on turning back the clock on women’s health,” said Dr. Haywood Brown, the organization’s president.
Gov. Cuomo agreed, and promised to protect preventative care for women in New York.
“This reckless decision, which will undoubtedly come down the hardest on low-income women, is repugnant to everything we know is right and just,” Cuomo said in a statement.
Both initiatives are expected to face an onslaught of legal challenges.
The American Civil Liberties Union began the barrage Friday, filing a lawsuit less than three hours after the rules were issued.