Donald Trump just gutted an Obama order protecting LGBT federal workers

US President Donald Trump has signed away parts of an executive order protecting LGBT federal workers against discrimination, in one of his most overt attacks on the community since taking office in January.

The President signed an executive order on Monday (March 27) revoking three previous orders issued by Barack Obama, including Executive Order 13673 or the ‘the Fair Pay and Safe Workplaces Order’, Keen News Service reports.

The order, signed in 2014, required that companies receiving large federal contracts demonstrate that they had complied for at least three years with 14 federal laws, many of which prevent discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity.

The laws affected include Title VII of the Civil Rights Act, which prevents discrimination based on sex or sexual orientation; the Americans with Disabilities Act and the Rehabilitation Act, which among other things prevented discrimination based on HIV status.

While the laws themselves still stand, by removing the requirement for companies to demonstrate their compliance, the Trump administration has effectively prevented them being properly enforced when applied to federal contracts.

Camilla Taylor, a senior counsel at LGBT legal organisation Lambda Legal, tells Keen News Service that Trump’s actions are “sending a message to these companies… that the federal government simply doesn’t care whether or not they violate the law.”

The move is the latest quiet attack on the LGBT community from the Trump administration, despite previous assurances from the President that he would protect LGBT rights during his time in the Oval Office.

Last month, the announced plans to revoke landmark guidelines introduced by President Obama advising public schools to let transgender students use the bathroom of their choice, while a page on the White House website dedicated to LGBT rights was removed entirely just hours after Trump’s inauguration in January.

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