Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

When someone says they “love freedom”, rest assured they don’t mean yours.

Whoever he was, that guy was nuts.

The GOP couldn’t organize an orgy in a whorehouse with a fist full of 50s.

Perhaps you mistook them for somebody who gives a damn.

When your entire life is steeped in white supremacy, equality feels like discrimination.

Let’s finish the job.

Jesus, Mary, & Joseph how is that election even close?

fuckem (in honor of the late great efgoldman)

I was promised a recession.

Speaking of republicans, is there a way for a political party to declare intellectual bankruptcy?

Republicans don’t want a speaker to lead them; they want a hostage.

It’s always darkest before the other shoe drops.

Accountability, motherfuckers.

I like you, you’re my kind of trouble.

Battle won, war still ongoing.

Never entrust democracy to any process that requires republicans to act in good faith.

Take hopelessness and turn it into resilience.

Too often we confuse noise with substance. too often we confuse setbacks with defeat.

Today’s GOP: why go just far enough when too far is right there?

Wow, I can’t imagine what it was like to comment in morse code.

Republican obstruction dressed up as bipartisanship. Again.

Take your GOP plan out of the witness protection program.

Why is it so hard for them to condemn hate?

Black Jesus loves a paper trail.

You are here: Home / Civil Rights / LGBTQ Rights / Gay Rights are Human Rights / Good News — If We Can Keep It

Good News — If We Can Keep It

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According to the Washington Post:

The White House said late Monday night that it will keep the Obama administration protections extended to lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender workers, responding to reports that the orders would be reversed.

“President Trump continues to be respectful and supportive of L.G.B.T.Q. rights, just as he was throughout the election,” the White House said in a statement. “The president is proud to have been the first ever G.O.P. nominee to mention the L.G.B.T.Q. community in his nomination acceptance speech, pledging then to protect the community from violence and oppression.”…

The executive order Obama signed in 2014 had two parts. It expanded protections in federal hiring, which already barred discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation, to also include gender identity. And it required all companies doing business with the federal government to have explicit policies barring discrimination against gay and transgender workers.

The move was significant because it applied to 24,000 companies that collectively employed about 28 million workers — representing about a fifth of the U.S. workforce…

Status will probably change — possibly more than once! — before most of you get to read this, but I’m kinda hoping Trump’s angry enough at his Talibangelical allies-of-convenience for falsely assuring him that everybody would lurve his #MuslimBan that he’ll refuse to grant them their dearest domestic-sadism wish out of pure spite. Trump seems to have no more animus towards LGBTQ people than he does the rest of us humans; as long as they’ve got something he wants (like Peter Thiel’s money) he’s a universalist. And with the ongoing normalisation of “unChristian” gender values — the Boy Scouts now allow transgender children to join their local troops! — there’s just not sufficient positive publicity for the President-Asterisk to risk any more popularity points just to make Mike Pence shut up for a few days.

Reader Interactions

54Comments

  2. 2.

    Ian

    Meanwhile he fires the acting attorney general, calling her weak, saying she betrayed the United States.

    The incoming fascist wave gives me no assurance LGBTQ rights will be protected in court.

  4. 4.

    Inmourning

    I hope this is accurate, but why would anyone trust this administration to do the right thing.

  6. 6.

    gene108

    We still need to be vigilant. Trump could still do this, at some point in the future, once our attention is elsewhere other than his EO’s.

  7. 7.

    CarolDuhart2

    I would say..for now…. Gay people are like women, everywhere. And he doesn’t need another tire fire right now. Again, be vigilant. There may be actions lower on the food chain if Pence needs a bone.

    Trump never struck me as being more homophobic than his generation (which is bad enough) and he never quite got as exercised about gays compared to other groups.

  8. 8.

    raven

    We can freak out all we want and I’m glad she did it but she knew full well why would happen.

    The Attorney General is appointed by the President and takes office after confirmation by the United States Senate. He or she serves at the pleasure of the president and can be removed by the president at any time; the attorney general is also subject to impeachment by the House of Representatives and trial in the Senate for “treason, bribery, and other high crimes and misdemeanors”.

  9. 9.

    Shalimar

    They have a draft EO ready and also have no impulse control. Chance of it getting signed in the next 3 months to distract attention from some other mess is well above 50%.

  11. 11.

    Adria McDowell (formerly Lurker Extraordinaire

    @Ian: of course he did.

    Wear that badge with pride, Sally! We salute you!

  12. 12.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @Shalimar: Chance of it getting signed in the next 3 HOURS to distract attention from some other mess is well above 50%.

    FTFY.

  13. 13.

    bemused

    The 46 second clip of Sessions questioning Yates at her confirmation hearing is all over the place. I watched a longer youtube clip about 5 min that is worth checking out. Sessions made analogy of a business lawyer team having to tell the CEO he/she cannot legally do something. He asked questions on role of the Office of Legal Council. Then he got more animated talking about the immigration laws and the lack of integrity performance of executing the law.

  15. 15.

    Mustang Bobby

    “President Trump continues to be respectful and supportive of L.G.B.T.Q. rights, just as he was throughout the election,” the White House said in a statement. “The president is proud to have been the first ever G.O.P. nominee to mention the L.G.B.T.Q. community in his nomination acceptance speech, pledging then to protect the community from violence and oppression.”

    “Yeah, uh huh, honey. Keep shakin’ that thing; maybe it’ll fall off and save us both a lot of trouble.” — Hedda Lettuce, noted drag queen in my novel “Bobby Cramer.”

  19. 19.

    OzarkHillbilly

    State department mutiny against Trump immigration ban grows

    “A policy which closes our doors to over 200 million legitimate travelers in the hopes of preventing a small number of travelers who intend to harm Americans from using the visa system to enter the United States will not achieve its aim of making our country safer,” the draft memo said. “Moreover, such a policy runs counter to core American values of nondiscrimination, fair play and extending a warm welcome to foreign visitors and immigrants.”
    ….
    The memo is being sent through the state department’s “dissent channel”, set up at the time of the Vietnam war to allow alternative points of view to be aired inside the institution. Under its foreign affairs manual, dissenters are strictly protected from reprisals, but the White House spokesman, Sean Spicer, warned the signers they should resign if they did not like the policy.

    “I think that they should either get with the programme or they can go. This is about the safety of America,” Spicer said during his daily briefing at the White House.

    I can always tell when Spicer is lying.

  27. 27.

    David ?Canadian Anchor Baby? Koch

    Dump will probably save the anti-gay EO for a mid election year ploy to string along the fundies, just like Shurb did with constitutional amendment against gay marriage.

  29. 29.

    Baud

    The anti-gay EO is impeachment insurance, because everyone knows Pence will sign that mofo in a heartbeat.

  31. 31.

    OzarkHillbilly

    A portrait in courage:

    Other companies declined to comment, including many that have business matters before the Trump administration. Creve Coeur-based Monsanto, which has a highly international workforce, would not weigh in. It needs approval from the Trump administration’s Justice Department if it hopes to win regulatory approval for its pending sale to German drug and chemical conglomerate Bayer. General Motors and Boeing also have yet to publicly comment.

    My old man was Manager of International Personnel at Monsanto (fancy title for Mr Fix-it for whenever somebody had a problem) helping people from all over the world deal with various issues with the US govt and other govts. Jefferson Barracks is probably going to tap his grave for the energy surplus generated by his spinning.

    @?BillinGlendaleCA: He’s still breathing.

  32. 32.

    Fester Addams

    Suppose it’s possible someone gave some thought to how the ensuing witch hunt and rash of involuntary outings would work out for all the closeted Republican pols and staffers?

  33. 33.

    Quinerly

    @bemused:
    NPR lead with the Sessions/Yates back and forth this AM. I’ll look for the video. Painting her as a wide eyed Liberal? She started with Bob Barr and Rep John Lewis opposed her appointment a few years back.

  34. 34.

    Quinerly

    @Mary G:
    Great piece up at Vanity Fair. Someone is leaking. Seems the the last two Sabbaths have presented problems for the Kushners.

  35. 35.

    bemused

    @Quinerly:

    It’s a youtube. I wanted to hear what was said after 46 sec and found the 5:12 video. Sessions also asked about a Attorney General office lawsuit over something in Nov but what that was wasn’t named.

  36. 36.

    bemused

    @Quinerly:

    Jared and Ivanka know twittler better than anyone and they were delusional if they thought they could handle or control him in any way. Similarly, the GOP thought the rabid tea party they encouraged would follow their lead. TPM has a nice quote list up this morning of when GOPers said they would check twittler excesses.
    All delusional.

  37. 37.

    Mai.naem.mobile

    @Mary G: nah,Ivanka is thinking of her gay make up artists,designers etc. She may have worn that hideous aluminum monstrosity but generally she doesn’t look like Kelly Anne Conman who has been completely boycotted by the LGBQT Fashion Industry contingent.

  38. 38.

    Mai.naem.mobile

    @CarolDuhart2: Dolt 45 does not give a shit about anything except 1/ His money 2/ Dissing Obama because Obama made fun of him 3/His vanity/the way he is viewed.

  39. 39.

    Peale

    @Baud: yeah. That said, although I’m not a gay federal worker, I will say that I’ll find trampling those protections to be acceptable if it gets so bad that republicans agree to impeach him. My guess is that they won’t until our cities are in ruins, at which point, a few thousand government employees whose spouses loose pension rights will be a a very small problem.

  41. 41.

    Gindy51

    @bemused: Yep, my husband’s golf acquaintances (all against trump till he won the nomination) said the GOP would control him. Wonder what they will say now? I told him to slyly mention president Bannon…. see what shakes out, BWAHAHAHAHA

  42. 42.

    bemused

    @Gindy51:

    So hilarious. The golf guys sure GOP would control him and Trumpbots sure twittler would run the show. I guess the Trumpers aren’t wrong all the time.

    Yeah, I plan to use president Bannon every opportunity I get, along with president FUBAR.

  44. 44.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    @gene108:

    We still need to be vigilant. Trump could still do this, at some point in the future, once our attention is elsewhere other than his EO’s

    Indeed, Trump as it is said, is purely transactionable. Muslims and gays were the price for Evangelical support, when Trump found out the Evangelicals couldn’t deliver, he has no interest in it.

    It’s not policy, it’s always convenience for Trump.

  46. 46.

    Paul W.

    Just a quick warning that this is not all it appears to be, they are keeping the rule but preparing an EO that entitles broad religious exemptions (effectively nullifying it) according to Vox. If true, keeping the rule and then doing this is very shrewd and very dangerous.

  47. 47.

    Darkrose

    My assumption is that they’re holding off for now because despite what they’ve said, the backlash from the ban has them a little worried. They also have the SCOTUS pick battle, and the last thing they want is for any LGBT stuff to get highlighted and have the nominee be pressed on it. They’ll wait until things have cooled off a little and slip it in quietly.

  48. 48.

    Darkrose

    Also, I suspect they weren’t expecting this:

    Amazon chief executive, Jeff Bezos, has pledged the full legal resources of his company to fight the travel ban instituted by Donald Trump against seven Islamic nations. Guardian

  49. 49.

    Mickee

    He doesn’t want the avalanche of pure rage that would surely follow an attack on LGBT protections to distract from whatever hellspawn he plans to name to the Supreme Court this afternoon. Give it a couple of days. Once the furor over his (no doubt) idiocracy-worthy SCOTUS nomination dies down, he’ll be back to ruining the lives of non-straight, non-white, non-Christian people.

  50. 50.

    Buskertype

    I think they genuinely didn’t count on the backlash they caught over the weekend, and they know the anti-LGBT order will be another shitstorm that will commingle with and enhance the existing shitstorm…

    Also they may be punishing their base for not having their backs right now, which is every bit as hilariously counter-productive as it sounds.

    If he appoints Hardiman to SCOTUS his right flank collapses completely. If he appoints one of the more psycho right wingers the confirmation will be brutal. Fun times!

  51. 51.

    liberal

    @Darkrose: would’ve been nice if the oligarchic scum did something to actually help Democrats beat back three far right, but that’s asking too much I guess.

  53. 53.

    EBT

    Reminder: he drove his brother to suicide over homosexuality. So don’t go ascribing any good thoughts at all about deadbeat donnie.

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