Biden Signs Executive Order on Preventing and Combating Discrimination Based on Gender Identity or Sexual Orientation
Day One: Newly minted President Joe Biden signed seventeen executive orders within about five hours of being sworn into the land's highest office.
Signed on day one was his order ‘Preventing and Combating Discrimination on the Basis of Gender Identity or Sexual Orientation.’ With decades of experience and education rooted deeply in his everyday work as a public servant, Biden knows his way around the constitution well. It is clear some of Biden’s new orders are expected to come under the Supreme Court's scrutiny since even the simplest acts providing ‘justice for all’ are frequently considered controversial in today’s climate.
Within Biden’s executive orders are references to constitutional law and specific prior decisions made by the Supreme Court. The president also hired twenty attorneys to his White House counsel’s office, all noted for their knowledge in civil rights, health, and environmental law.
Section one of this new policy states, “Every person should be treated with respect and dignity and should be able to live without fear, no matter who they are or whom they love."
Though at first appearance a simple statement, it's clear this sentence is like a loaded gun to those who do not support the rights of same-sex or other LBGTQ American workers or the rights of immigrants or those of color.
In June 2020, the Supreme Court ruled in Bostock v. Clayton County, Georgia, that firing any individuals due to their sexual orientation or transgender status violates Title VII’s prohibition on discrimination because of sex.
However, since the Supreme Court did not address related issues such as bathroom or locker room access, dress codes, or even the right for a transgender person to compete in an athletic race, Biden may have an upcoming legal fight.
Biden’s new policy states, “Children should be able to learn without worrying about whether they will be denied access to the restroom, the locker room, or school sports.”
Added to the policy are reminders of constitutional promises and prior court cases. In this particular act, Biden wrote of “equal protection of the laws. These principles are also enshrined in our Nation’s anti-discrimination laws, among them Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, as amended (42 U.S.C. 2000e et seq.).”
As per the Bostock v Clayton Country ruling, Biden notes, “Under Bostock‘s reasoning, laws that prohibit sex discrimination … prohibit discrimination on the basis of gender identity or sexual orientation, so long as the laws do not contain sufficient indications to the contrary.”
Biden then connects the dots between sexual discrimination and people of color who suffer from a double prejudice since they are also discriminated against by racist behavior. This act is a new model for discrimination laws, as the president describes a new type of “overlapping discrimination” in his order.
“Discrimination on the basis of gender identity or sexual orientation manifests differently for different individuals, and it often overlaps with other forms of prohibited discrimination, including discrimination on the basis of race or disability,” said Biden. “For example, transgender Black Americans face unconscionably high levels of workplace discrimination, homelessness, and violence, including fatal violence.”
The act is explicit in the responsibilities of each agency to enforce the “Prohibitions on Sex Discrimination on the Basis of Gender Identity or Sexual Orientation” Act. The plan calls for action from every government agency head with rules to follow to enforce the act and also follows this with a 100-day competition date for its national activation.
“Within 100 days of the date of this order, the head of each agency shall develop, in consultation with the Attorney General, as appropriate, a plan to carry out actions that the agency has identified pursuant to subsections (b) and (c) of this section, as appropriate and consistent with applicable law,” Biden said.
President Biden immediately fired Trump’s anti-worker attorney Peter Robb, known for historical cases that put business owners’ interests above those of employees, such as the 1981 Professional Air Traffic Controllers Organization. In that instance, Robb not only broke the strike but also placed the strikers under a lifetime reemployment ban. However, in 1993, President Bill Clinton overturned this ban.
