Reminder - Donald Trump waged a silent but deadly war against LGBTQ America. Here are the 'receipts'

Reminder of Trump's 2016 broken promise to our community.

Far be it from me to be "that guy," but I have to point out that there are still some people out there who do not think that Donald Trump did any harm to the LGBTQ community during his four years in power. And to compound this awful belief is that some of these folks are our LGBTQ brothers and sisters. 

Yep, believe it or not, there are some members of the LGBTQ community who think that Donald Trump did no harm to us. 

I could spend a long time deconstructing and analyzing this fact, but I think it would serve us better - at least for now - to list some of the ways the Trump Administration undermined LGBTQ safety and equality. 

Here are just a few courtesy of the Human Rights Campaign:

In the Workplace  

Supported employment discrimination against LGBTQ people: The Trump administration   submitted amicus briefs to the U.S. Supreme Court supporting discrimination against LGBTQ people. 

Banned transgender service members from the military: Against the expert advice of military leadership, medical authorities, budget analysts, 70% of Americans and the armed forces of allied countries, Trump and Pence banned transgender people from serving in the military. 

Rolled back Obama-era non-discrimination protections: Trump’s Department of Justice upended previous DOJ interpretations of the Civil Rights Act that protect transgender and non-binary workers from employment discrimination and ceased enforcing non-discrimination protections as well as taking a hostile stance to LGBTQ workers in court. 

Issued rule to license discrimination: Trump’s Department of Labor issued a regulation designed to allow federal contractors to claim a religious exemption to fire LGBTQ workers because of their sexual orientation or gender identity. 

In Health Care 

 Undermine Section 1557 Rule: HHS published a proposed major change to the administrative rule interpreting Section 1557 of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) to remove explicit protections for LGBTQ people in healthcare programs and activities by excluding LGBTQ people from protections from discrimination based on sex stereotyping and gender identity.

 Advocated for the elimination of the entire Affordable Care Act: The Justice Department issued a legal filing arguing that the entirety of the Affordable Care Act should be overturned. This move would jeopardize health care for over 130 million people with preexisting conditions like HIV and eliminate non-discrimination protections for LGBTQ people. 

Created a Religious Discrimination Division: HHS created a new office whose sole purpose would be to defend physicians and other medical professionals who decide to refuse care, including to LGBTQ patients.

In Schools

 Guidance for Schools on Transgender Students: The Departments of Education and Justice eliminated Obama-era guidance clarifying that schools must treat transgender students consistent with their gender identity. This encourages schools officials to permit harassment of transgender students, deny access to facilities consistent with gender identity, and refuse to use correct names and pronouns -- all inflicting untold emotional harm.

 Rejected Complaints From Transgender Students: The Department of Education refused to respond to civil complaints filed by transgender students, including those who were barred from using bathrooms that correspond with their gender identity. This increases the burden for transgender students to combat these harmful policies.

 

 And these are just a few from three sections of American life in which Trump attempted to undermine LGBTQ rights and safety. HRC's entire list is very thorough. And if that's not enough, HRC has also included a four-year timeline of the Trump Administration's acts against LGBTQ Americans.

Anyone who thinks that Trump was an LGBTQ ally or that his time in office didn't harm our community is willfully ignorant. And that's the one thing we cannot afford to be.