What steps is the administration taking to ensure...

oil-in-water-deactivated2020033 asked:

What steps is the administration taking to ensure the rights of LGBTQA+ people and make sure a future administration won't take it away?

obamawhitehouse Answer:

Good question. One of the reasons why we litigated and celebrated the Supreme Court cases on marriage equality and the Federal Defense of Marriage Act is because future administrations will not be able to reverse those decisions.

Same applies to statutes that were passed by Congress including (1) the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd, Jr., Hate Crimes Prevention Act of 2009, (2) the Affordable Care Act, (3) the repeal of Don’t Ask Don’t Tell, (4) expanding the provisions of the Violence Against Women Act to cover LGBT survivors

For executive actions that the President has taken including, but not limited to, the following:

(1) The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) now requires all hospitals receiving Medicare or Medicaid funds - just about every hospital in America - to allow visitation rights for LGBT patients. The President also directed HHS to ensure that medical decision-making rights of LGBT patients are respected.

(2) The executive order prohibiting federal contractors from discriminating on the basis of gender orientation or sexual identity.

(3) All-gender restrooms in the White House.

(4) Developing and implementing a national HIV/AIDS strategy.

(5) HHS’s new proposed rule on the Affordable Care Act that proposes important new protections for transgender patients.

It will be important for the American people to hold future administrations accountable to keep bending the moral arc of the universe toward justice.

-Valerie