National LGBTQ Task Force Decries DOJ’s Anti-Transgender Employment Memo
Washington, DC, October 5, 2017: Today, Attorney General Jeff Sessions issued a memo to US Attorneys advising that the Department of Justice will no longer interpret Title VII to include gender identity. The Task Force condemns the Department of Justice’s actions in the strongest terms possible.
The following statement can be attributed to Stacey Long Simmons, Director of Advocacy and Action, National LGBTQ Task Force:
“This memo contradicts what is already established legal precedent. Courts across the country have agreed that sex protections include gender identity. The plain truth is that Attorney General Sessions is running the Justice Department with a clear anti-transgender bias, not current law.
This is only the latest example of the administration’s broad reaching anti-LGBTQ policy changes. There is a pungent stench coming from the Trump/Pence Administration and its actors. Earlier this week, the Department of Health and Human Services scrubbed all references to LGBTQ people from its Draft Strategic Plan, and over the last few months we’ve seen LGBTQ people scrubbed from efforts at the Census Bureau, Department of Housing and Urban Development, Health and Human Services and the Department of Justice.
In the face of this foul policy agenda, we’re prepared to do more than hold our noses – we’re putting into action everything that is within our power to resist these harmful changes. That’s why we’re continuing to mobilize our members to renounce the rampant attacks on not only LGBTQ people, but also immigrants, Jewish people, women, black and brown people, Muslims, the poor and all marginalized communities.
For decades, the Task Force has advocated for legislative and regulatory changes to achieve strong, inclusive employment protections for LGBTQ people. What’s at stake today is not only our dignity and well-being but our very existence.”
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CONTACT
Sarah Massey
Communications Director
(202) 639-6308
smassey@thetaskforce.org
