Transgender issues worth watching
Business owners trying to stay up with regulations regarding civil and LGBT rights need to keep an eye on developments in Washington, D.C. Gay rights organizations are protesting attempts by the Trump administration to rewrite a federal rule barring discrimination in health care based on “gender identity.”
The rule goes back to the Obama administration. Last December, a federal judge in Texas said the rule went too far by concluding discrimination on the basis of gender identity is sex discrimination—forbidden by civil rights laws.
Instead of appealing the ruling, the Trump administration is rewriting the rule, which applies to health care providers and insurers that receive federal funds. Groups representing transgender people expect the previous protections to end and expect to sue, the Associated Press recently reported.
“The proposed rollback does fit into a pattern of transphobia and anti-LGBT sentiment in this administration,” Lambda Legal attorney Omar Gonzalez-Pagan told the AP.
In a statement, the Office of Civil Rights said it “will continue to enforce important protections against discrimination on the basis of race, color, national origin, age, or disability, as well as other sex discrimination provisions that are not impacted by the court’s order.”
