Three current and former Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) employees have told that investigative cases involving sexual orientation or gender identity have come to a halt. The pause in processing these claims of harassment comes from HR Dive, an industry publication.
Due to this temporary prohibition on cases involving LGBTQ+ harassment, any telephone calls, conducting research, or making any headway on new or existing investigations. While there has been no direct response from the White House or EEOC on the issues, former EEOC employees have stated it is in response to President Trump’s executive order on “gender ideology extremism,” which calls for federal agencies and employees to “enforce laws governing sex-based rights, protections, opportunities, and accommodations to protect men and women as biologically distinct sexes.” This order lacks clarity, as usual, but for fear of retaliation, the EEOC decided to take it to an extreme and halt all claims.
Trump designated Andrea Lucas to be the head of the EEOC during his administration. She stated in a January 21 press interview that she intends on “defending the biological and binary reality of sex and related rights” as well as going after “unlawful DEI-motivated race and sex discrimination.”
Because in the 2020 case Bostock vs. Clayton County, it was ruled that discrimination based on gender identity or sexual orientation fell under ‘sex discrimination’ based on Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act, many cases cite Title VII in their claim. This makes the standstill in claims processing even more concerning, as Title VII has been used by the Supreme Court to protect LGBTQ+ individuals.
Many other changes have been introduced to the EEOC as Lucas has taken power, such as the removal of gender neutral Mx. Salutation, the “X” gender identifier, and the option to fill in pronouns on the front end. On the backend of the system, there is a status next to all cases involved Title VII and sexual orientation or gender identity (SOGI), denoting SOGI PAUSED.
This is incredibly troubling, as individuals depend on the EEOC to function correctly and do its job.
