LGBTQ+ groups sue Trump administration over executive orders: ‘We won’t be silenced’
Donald Trump’s new administration is facing dozens of lawsuits. (Getty)
LGBTQ+ groups have filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration over executive orders implemented to dismantle diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives.
Several LGBTQ+ rights organisations, including the San Francisco AIDS Foundation and the GLBT Historical Society, which are spearheading the suit, allege that a trio of executive orders signed by Trump deny the existence of trans people and therefore violates their rights.
On Thursday (20 February), the lawsuit was filed in the US District Court for the Northern District of California by civil rights groups the Legal Defence Fund and Lambda Legal. It is one of many filed against the new administration.
The orders which they are challenging are: “Defending Women From Gender Ideology Extremism and Restoring Biological Truth to the Federal Government”, “Ending Radical and Wasteful Government DEI Programs and Preferencing” and “Ending Illegal Discrimination and Restoring Merit-Based Opportunity”.
In the complaint, the groups, which all receive federal funding to support their work, claim the executive orders are are a violation of their Fifth Amendment rights under the US Constitution that “[n]o person shall … be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law.”
‘We won’t be silenced’
Tyler TerMeer, one of the plaintiffs and CEO of the San Francisco AIDS Foundation, told ABC News: “The government is attempting to erase a very specific group of people. Transgender and non-binary folks in our country are being singled out as individuals who are being told that they don’t exist.
“So this moment is us going to the courts and saying, ‘We won’t be silenced.'”
Attorney Jose Abrigo of Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund, said: “The orders are vague, use undefined terms and make compliance impossible and enforcement arbitrary.
“Our plaintiffs have no way of knowing which programs, policies or even word might result in penalties.”
How did this story make you feel?
