January 31, 2017

Trump Will Keep Some of Obama’s LGBT Protections. But Don’t Celebrate Yet.

The president could pick an anti-LGBT Supreme Court justice tonight.

Drew Angerer/ZUMA

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The White House announced Tuesday that President Donald Trump will preserve an Obama-era executive order that bans federal contractors from discriminating against lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender employees.

“President Trump continues to be respectful and supportive of LGBTQ rights, just as he was throughout the election,” the statement released on Tuesday reads. “The president is proud to have been the first ever GOP nominee to mention the LGBTQ community in his nomination acceptance speech, pledging to protect the community from violence and oppression.”

The statement appeared to respond to previous reports indicating Trump was drafting an executive order to reverse the protections, as civil rights groups feared he would do.

While Trump has voiced support for some LGBT rights, his record on the issue remains checkered: The president remains opposed to same-sex marriage and has said he would “strongly consider” appointing a Supreme Court justice who would overturn the high court’s 2015 ruling that legalized same-sex marriage nationwide. (Trump is scheduled to reveal his choice to fill the vacant Supreme Court seat Tuesday evening.)

Shortly after he became the Republican party’s presidential nominee, Trump also abandoned his initial criticism of North Carolina’s controversial law barring transgender people from using the bathroom of their choice. “I’ve spoken with your governor, I’ve spoken with a lot of people, and I’m going with the state,” he said when asked about the reversal.

Trump has also surrounded himself with vocal opponents of LGBT rights. As governor of Indiana, Vice President Mike Pence backed a series of laws that allowed businesses to discriminate against gay people. Many of Trump’s Cabinet picks, including attorney general nominee Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.) and health and human services nominee Rep. Tom Price (R-Ga.), have also been criticized for their anti-LGBT views.

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WHO DOESN’T LOVE A POSITIVE STORY—OR TWO?

“Great journalism really does make a difference in this world: it can even save kids.”

That’s what a civil rights lawyer wrote to Julia Lurie, the day after her major investigation into a psychiatric hospital chain that uses foster children as “cash cows” published, letting her know he was using her findings that same day in a hearing to keep a child out of one of the facilities we investigated.

That’s awesome. As is the fact that Julia, who spent a full year reporting this challenging story, promptly heard from a Senate committee that will use her work in their own investigation of Universal Health Services. There’s no doubt her revelations will continue to have a big impact in the months and years to come.

Like another story about Mother Jones’ real-world impact.

This one, a multiyear investigation, published in 2021, exposed conditions in sugar work camps in the Dominican Republic owned by Central Romana—the conglomerate behind brands like C&H and Domino, whose product ends up in our Hershey bars and other sweets. A year ago, the Biden administration banned sugar imports from Central Romana. And just recently, we learned of a previously undisclosed investigation from the Department of Homeland Security, looking into working conditions at Central Romana. How big of a deal is this?

“This could be the first time a corporation would be held criminally liable for forced labor in their own supply chains,” according to a retired special agent we talked to.

Wow.

And it is only because Mother Jones is funded primarily by donations from readers that we can mount ambitious, yearlong—or more—investigations like these two stories that are making waves.

About that: It’s unfathomably hard in the news business right now, and we came up about $28,000 short during our recent fall fundraising campaign. We simply have to make that up soon to avoid falling further behind than can be made up for, or needing to somehow trim $1 million from our budget, like happened last year.

If you can, please support the reporting you get from Mother Jones—that exists to make a difference, not a profit—with a donation of any amount today. We need more donations than normal to come in from this specific blurb to help close our funding gap before it gets any bigger.

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