Accountability: The Fight for Equity Continues

Throughout President Biden’s campaign, he made many promises to the LGBTQ community regarding healthcare, equality, and the fight against hate. In 2020, Biden promised LGBTQ voters they’d have a “partner in the White House,” but has his administration delivered?

Since his inauguration, GLAAD (Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation) has released a “Biden Accountability Tracker” which lays out all of the executive actions the new administration has set forth regarding LGBTQ issues. The current count is 24 actions within his first 68 days as president, including the reversal of Trump’s trans military ban and the president’s full support of the Equality Act. 

“Full equality has been denied to LGBTQ+ Americans and their families for far too long. Despite the extraordinary progress the LGBTQ+ community has made to secure their basic civil rights, discrimination is still rampant in many areas of our society. The Equality Act provides long-overdue, federal civil rights protections on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity, locking in critical safeguards in our housing, education, public services, and lending systems—and codifying the courage and resilience of the LGBTQ+ movement into enduring law,” Biden said in a statement addressing Congress. 

Though some of the actions listed by GLAAD are a step in the right direction after a grueling four years under the previous administration, some accredited “actions” are as simple as Tweets showing support for the LGBTQ community or a quote from Biden’s press secretary saying, “The president’s belief is that trans rights are human rights.”

While these statements are great for solidarity and comfort in the knowledge that we as a country are again moving forward, should we be patting politicians on the back for the bare minimum? That isn’t to say that the Biden administration hasn’t championed some groundbreaking legislation when it comes to equality both in the U.S. as well as abroad, but if we remove all the Tweets, comments, and statements from GLAAD’s list, we’re left with six executive actions.

The six executive orders are as follows: 

01/20/2021: Signs executive order that directs all federal agencies to implement the Supreme Court’s 2020 Bostock decision and interpreting the federal ban on sex discrimination (via the Civil Rights Act 1964) to include sexual orientation and gender identity as protected classes. The order points to ending discrimination against transgender youth in school facilities including restrooms, locker rooms, and access to sports programs.

01/20/2021: Signs executive order directing the federal government to “pursue a comprehensive approach to advancing equity for all,” specifically citing LGBTQ people among the list of underserved communities.

01/21/2021: Signs executive order to increase COVID-19 equitable data collection, pointing to lack of tracking data in underserved communities that are disproportionately impacted, specifically citing lack of data collection for LGBTQ people.

01/25/2021:     Revokes Trump’s 2018 ban on transgender military personnel and recruits.

02/04/2021:  Issues executive memo on advancing LGBTQ human rights around the world. The memo directs all agencies “engaged abroad” to consider the implications of LGBTQ rights in funding and policy, increases protections for LGBTQ refugees and asylum seekers, proposes combating criminalization of LGBTQ people in foreign nations, and directs agencies to file reports on LGBTQ human rights directives within 180 days.

03/08/2021:   On International Women’s Day, signs executive order to guarantee all students “an educational environment free from discrimination on the basis of sex, including discrimination in the form of sexual harassment, which encompasses sexual violence, and including discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity.”

Other noteworthy actions from the Biden administration include changes to White House website contact form to include the addition of pronoun fields (they/them added), and the creation of the Gender Policy Council with the goal of advancing equality and equity for women and girls. 

While it is both wonderful and inspiring to see an administration that cares about the real issues facing the LGBTQ population, it is equally important to report honestly and transparently on their actions. As things begin to look optimistic on the federal level, many states have begun passing anti-LGBTQ actions, specifically anti-trans actions. 

The Human Rights Campaign reported earlier this month, a total of 82 anti-trans legislations to come out in 2021, marking the highest influx in such legislation in American history. Twenty-eight states currently have bills being introduced which would ban transgender women and girls from competing in school athletic programs. Texas recently proposed a bill which would make supplying puberty blockers, or other gender-affirming care to trans youth an act of child abuse. A recent bill in Arkansas gained national attention, with its amendment to the state’s constitution which would allow EMTs and doctors to refuse to treat LGBTQ patients due to their religious beliefs. 

The stark reality is that, while our current presidential administration seems to be pushing for equality and equity, many, if not a majority, of state and local governments are running in the opposite direction. Although an estimated 70 percent of Americans support LGBTQ protections our leaders continue to propose bills that are rooted in misinformation and hate. As a community, and a country, we will have to continue to fight for the same rights and protections that every American deserves.