President Biden’s New Executive Order Enforces Workplace Equality
President Joe Biden’s first full day in office brought forth an executive order that will enforce the Supreme Court’s ruling on LGBTQ workplace equality. This was one of many executive orders signed just hours after his inauguration. These orders address issues such as immigration, climate change, racial equality, and the pandemic.
President Biden’s executive order for workplace equality has been cause for celebration amongst many LGBTQ advocacy groups. Among them was the Human Rights Campaign, one of the nation’s most prominent LBGTQ organizations.
“Biden’s Executive Order is the most substantive, wide-ranging executive order concerning sexual orientation and gender identity ever issued by a United States president,” explains Human Rights Campaign President Alfonso David. “By fully implementing the Supreme Court’s historic ruling in Bostock [v. Clayton County], the federal government will enforce federal law to protect LGBTQ people from discrimination in employment, health care, housing, and education, and other key areas of life.”
Other groups, such as LGBTQ education nonprofit GLSEN, are pleased by the possibilities that the executive order has for those with intersectional identities.
“This order signals the new administration’s plan to advance LGBTQ+ equity through an intersectional lens that centers all of our most vulnerable communities, including LGBTQ+ people of color, LGBTQ+ people with disabilities, and LGBTQ+ immigrants,” says GLSEN executive director Eliza Byard. “We look forward to working with the Biden Administration to continue to advance LGBTQ+ students’ rights by supporting the Safe Schools Improvement Act and the Equality Act, strengthening federal survey data collection on LGBTQ+ students’ experiences and identifying ways to direct additional school resources to programs that support underserved LGBTQ+ students and educators.”
While great deal of work remains in the pursuit for more inclusive policy, the enactment of this order brings us one step closer to the unity and progress our incoming president has promised. The enactment of this and other executive orders has created hope for bolder prioritization of legislation against discrimination.
Photo Courtesy of Gayatri Malhotra
