White House Announces Obama’s Order On LGBTQ Rights Stays Intact: President Donald Trump ‘Is Determined To Protect The Rights Of All Americans’
The LGBTQ community was ready to fight for their rights as American citizens when rumors started to swirl that President Donald Trump was preparing an executive order that would allow LGBTQ discrimination, the Inquisitr previously reported.
Per NPR, the LGBTQ community can rest easy knowing their rights are safe after the White House announced Obama’s executive order protecting the LGBTQ community would stay intact. NPR speculated that the White House made the announcement to alleviate concerns President Donald Trump may end the recently adopted protections granted to the LGBTQ community during Obama’s presidency.
Trump vows to continue LGBT workplace rights protection https://t.co/IwQ0J1Zt2l
— Reuters (@Reuters) January 31, 2017
The White House made the announcement while giving a short statement early on Tuesday. In the statement, the White house confirmed that President Donald Trump “is determined to protect the rights of all Americans, including the LGBTQ community.”
The White House announcing Obama’s executive order on LGBTQ rights staying intact came after some media outlets started to speculate that President Donald Trump was planning a new order to undo the previous one. When President Obama’s 2014 executive order was signed, it was applied to roughly 28 million workers – protecting the rights of roughly a fifth of the workforce in the United States.
The White House went on to say the following regarding President Donald Trump and the executive order protecting LGBTQ rights during today’s statement.
“The President is proud to have been the first ever GOP nominee to mention the LGBTQ community in his nomination acceptance speech, pledging then to protect the community from violence and oppression.”
For those who have been following Donald Trump closely, his plan for his first 100 days in office did not include taking any actions to strip the LGBTQ community of their rights or protections. Trump, however, did list his first priority as the new president of the United States as canceling “every unconstitutional executive action, memorandum and order issued by President Obama.”
This resulted in some media outlets speculating whether Trump considered the executive order protecting LGBTQ rights to be an unconstitutional executive action. This, in turn, caused the LGBTQ community to prepare to fight – if necessary – to protect the rights Obama had been granted. It also didn’t take long for many to take to social media to express how they felt about the possibility that President Donald Trump would undo the rights Obama granted to the LGBTQ community.
Some even acknowledged the fact that it was nothing more than a rumor but still found it to be disgusting.
The fact that there is even a rumored LGBT EO that allows discrimination against the LGBTQ community is disgusting.
Disgusting.
— Tony Posnanski (@tonyposnanski) January 30, 2017
Some even used it as an opportunity to point out the fact that those who knew Mike Pence well were not surprised to hear this as Pence has always been against LGBTQ rights.
How did some gay people vote for Trump knowing that he's homophobic and that Pence supports conversion therapy??? #GaysForTrump
— Linette Ray (@linetterayy) January 31, 2017
As those who followed Trump’s election campaign recalls, the POTUS rarely focused on gay rights or restrictions while he was campaigning.
While the White House announcing the executive order protecting the rights of the LGBTQ rights will stay intact is good news, civil rights activities are still worried that the POTUS is going to appoint a Supreme Court justice who is not supportive of gay rights. At 8 p.m. EST, President Donald Trump is scheduled to name who he wants to replace the late Justice Antonin Scalia.
After Trump was elected as POTUS, many civil rights activities on both sides of the LGBTQ rights issue were curious as to how his administration would handle legal claims regarding “religious liberty.” Religious liberty is a phrase commonly used by those who are against the executive order protecting the LGBTQ community from discrimination.
Did you believe the rumors that were circulating claiming the POTUS may revoke LGBTQ rights? Are you relieved to hear the White House has confirmed the rights of the LGBTQ community will stay intact? Share your thoughts in the comments section below.
[Featured Image by Rena Schild/ShutterStock]
