'A critical point in history': how Trump's attack on LGBT rights is escalating

The Trump justice department is pushing to make it legal to fire people for being gay or transgender

Sam Levin in Los Angeles
@SamTLevin Email
Tue 3 Sep 2019 06.00 BST Last modified on Tue 3 Sep 2019 06.21 BST

The Trump administration has attacked LGBT rights in healthcare, employment, housing, education, commerce, the military, prisons and sports.

These efforts, it turns out, were just the beginning.

The president’s anti-LGBT agenda could soon gain significant momentum at the US supreme court, where Trump’s Department of Justice (DoJ) is pushing to make it legal to fire people for being gay or transgender. The move would fundamentally reverse civil rights for millions of people, LGBT leaders say, and raises fears that LGBT people may lose the minimal protections and resources they have won in past years.

“This is a critical point in history,” said Alesdair Ittelson, the law and policy director at interACT: Advocates for Intersex Youth. “The outcome of this case is going to have a tremendous impact on everyone.”

Trump’s most aggressive anti-gay legal argument yet

Under Obama, LGBT people won a number of key victories, including the repeal of the “don’t ask, don’t tell” ban on gay military members, new protections under the Affordable Care Act, an anti-discrimination executive order and expanded recognition of trans rights.

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