Trump Rolls Back Equal Rights Gains As Justice Dept Moves Against LGBTs

Barely hours after President Donald Trump announced about the reinstatement of the ban on the transgender people from serving in the military, the Department of Justice filed a brief Wednesday saying the landmark Civil Rights Act of 1964 does not protect gay workers.

The Trump administration filed a 36-page brief in federal court opposing a legal effort by the civil rights groups that are attempting to ban workplace discrimination against gays and lesbians in the United States. The rights group referred to the particular case involving a skydiving instructor, Donald Zarda, who alleged in a 2010 lawsuit that his former employer, Altitude Express, violated Title VII of the Civil Rights Act, 1964, which prohibits employment discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex and national origin, by firing him for being gay.

The Trump administration's filing is "unusual in part" because the Justice Department isn't a party in the case, and the department doesn't usually look into private employment lawsuits, BuzzFeed News reported.

Read: Trump Slammed By LGBT Leader For Failing To Acknowledge Pride Month

Several rights advocates instantly came out to condemn the move. “There had been a narrative out there, which is that Donald Trump isn’t personally anti-LGBT and you could blame other members of his administration for what was happening,” Politico reported citing James Esseks, the director of the American Civil Liberties Union’s LGBT & HIV Project. “You can’t believe that narrative after today. This is the president himself.”

Sarah McBride, national press secretary for the Human Rights Campaign, asserted Trump’s actions in office showed the president’s claims to support LGBT rights were always “alternative facts," the report said.

Then, there were social media users on Twitter that slammed the Justice Department.

There have been instances when Trump took a liberal stance as compared to other Republican on the LGBT issues, like same-sex marriage, which he described as “settled” law and something he was “fine with” shortly after the presidential election. However, his recent ban on transgender service members, and other decisions by his administration such as its failure to recognize June as Pride Month, seem to contradict that, Politico comment in a report.

"Any hope that Trump would be more supportive of LGBT rights in office because of his statements on the campaign trail was wishful thinking at best or complete disregard for the facts at the worst," Mc Bride said in the report. She added: “At the end of the day, show me who you are through your actions, not your words."

Read: How Twitter Reacted To Ivanka Trump Supporting LGBT Community After She Wished For A “Joyful” Pride 2017

Not just Trump, people in his administration have also come across as anti-LGBT. Attorney General Jeff Sessions has held a record of hostility toward the federal government's role in curtailing discrimination on the basis of race, sexuality, and immigration status, the Atlantic reported.

During his 1986 confirmation hearing, witnesses testified that Sessions referred to a black attorney as “boy,” described the Voting Rights Act as “intrusive." He also attacked the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) and the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) as “un-American" for enforcing civil rights on the people. Sessions, reportedly, faced allegations for referring a Democratic official in Alabama as a "nigger."