ACLU Issues Blueprint for Harris to Counter Far-Right Attacks on LGBTQ Rights

"When targeting LGBTQ people is a priority for our enemies, it's all the more critical that defending LGBTQ people remain a priority for our friends," said one ACLU official.

https://www.commondreams.org/news/kamala-harris-lgbtq

The American Civil Liberties Union released a detailed policy memo Tuesday outlining how Vice President Kamala Harris can and should work to protect LGBTQ+ people should she win the presidency in November. The ACLU noted that Harris' record serving in the Biden-Harris administration provides the organization with "a strong basis for optimism that a Harris administration would continue to fight for LGBTQ people," but said it was driven to release the memo because of attacks on the community in recent years by Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump and lawmakers at the local, state, and federal level.

In the memo, titled Harris on LGBTQ Rights: Building on a Legacy of Undoing Harm, Expanding Protections, and Serving as a Bulwark Against State Attacks, the ACLU said one key action would be to issue an executive order directing federal agencies to examine how they can enhance access to gender-affirming healthcare in federally funded programs. "This would send a powerful message about how a future-President Harris is prioritizing the healthcare needs of trans people, and it would strengthen coverage and access to gender-affirming care under federal policies and programs," reads the memo, which said protections could include mandatory coverage determinations and increased clarity for patients and providers.

The memo was released as the U.S. Supreme Court is expected to hear a challenge brought by the federal government and families in Tennessee against a state law banning gender-affirming care for transgender youths. Tennessee is one of 24 states that ban medication and surgical care for transgender youths—care that is supported by the American Academy of Pediatrics, the American Medical Association, and other health authorities. Six states have passed laws making it a felony to provide certain kinds of gender-affirming care. In addition to appealing a lower court's decision to uphold Tennessee's ban, the Biden-Harris administration has sued several other state's over similar laws; ordered federal agencies to protect LGBTQ+ people from discrimination in employment, housing, healthcare, and credit lending; reversed a ban on transgender servicemembers in the military; and expanded access to gender-affirming care in government healthcare programs, including in prisons.

The ACLU also wants passage of the Equality Act—a bill introduced in 2019 that would amend the Civil Rights Act of 1964 to prohibit discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity. The group says it is "prepared to harness the public pressure necessary to push the Senate to restore its ability to deliver full equality under the law for LGBTQ individuals." The ACLU also called on the Department of Health and Human Services' Office of Civil Rights to provide more robust enforcement of nondiscrimination rules, proactively ensuring public and private insurance policies don't exclude case for transgender patients and "rigorously investigating all complaints of discrimination."