{"id":505887,"date":"2016-11-28T19:49:10","date_gmt":"2016-11-28T19:49:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/glaad.logalt.net\/tap\/mike-pence\/"},"modified":"2023-08-02T17:35:02","modified_gmt":"2023-08-02T21:35:02","slug":"mike-pence","status":"publish","type":"gap","link":"https:\/\/glaad.org\/gap\/mike-pence\/","title":{"rendered":"Mike Pence"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201407.29.23<\/a>\u2014As a part of his 2024 presidential bid, said that as President, he would again prohibit transgender Americans from serving in the military, as was the policy when he was vice president under Donald Trump: “\u2026having transgender personnel, I believe, erodes unit cohesion in a very unique way.” In fact, when the U.S. military began allowing transgender Americans to serve openly in uniform in 2016, all five service chiefs subsequently testified that inclusive policy was a success. Two years after it was implemented, then-Army Chief of Staff General Mark Milley testified<\/a> before the Senate Armed Services Committee that, \u201cI have received precisely zero reports of issues of cohesion, discipline, morale and all those sorts of things.\u201d However a study from the Palm Center found that the ban on transgender military personnel, instituted by the Trump-Pence administration in 2019, negatively affected the military’s recruitment, retention, reputation, unit cohesion, morale, medical care, and “good order and discipline.”<\/p>\n

\u201406.07.23<\/a>\u2014Falsely characterized<\/a> essential health care for transgender youth in CNN Town Hall as having “profound negative effects”; and refused to explain how his support of parents’ rights did not include supporting parents of transgender people and their private health care decisions.<\/p>\n

\u201405.31.23<\/a>\u2014Tweeted<\/a> the false claim that the charity group Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence is a “hateful group,” and criticizing the L.A. Dodgers for including them in Pride Night.<\/p>\n

\u201407.29.20\u2014<\/a>Vice President Mike Pence and Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos visit a private school in Raleigh, NC, lauding its reopening for in-person education despite the coronavirus pandemic. Thales Academy founder Bob Luddy is one of the biggest Republican donors in North Carolina. Luddy also founded Franklin Academy, a Wake Forest charter school that changed its school handbook after criticism of rules prohibiting LGBT discussion or affirmation. Students protested Pence\u2019s visit with signs promoting LGBT rights and remote schooling and pointed out that a different Thales school had already had a teacher test positive for COVID-19 in the first week of school.<\/p>\n

\u201407.23.20<\/a>\u2014Former leader of now-defunct conversion therapy ministry, Exodus International, reveals former lobbying work he did with members of the Trump administration. Randy Thomas has since denounced conversion therapy and announced his engagement to Dan Scobey. \u201cGiven my experience\u2026 I believe Mike Pence is still supportive of ex-gay ministry and he supports the efforts to try to convert people from gay to straight.\u201d Thomas also references working with Kellyanne Conway and other former Republican leaders, lobbying against marriage equality and hate crime legislation.<\/p>\n

\u201401.21.20<\/a>\u2014Vice President Mike Pence attended a church service whose pastor used false, derogatory statements to describe the LGBTQ community.<\/p>\n

\u201408.23.19<\/a>\u2014The Trump Administration submits an amicus brief asking the U.S. Supreme Court to rule against workplace protections for LGBTQ Americans.<\/p>\n

\u201408.16.19<\/a>\u2014The Trump Administration files a court brief to the U.S. Supreme Court, asking the nation\u2019s highest court to block transgender Americans from having nationwide workplace protections.<\/p>\n

\u201408.14.19<\/a>\u2014The Trump Administration revealed they plan to grant federal contractors the ability to use \u201creligious exemptions\u201d as an excuse to discriminate against LGBTQ Americans at the workplace.<\/p>\n

\u201408.14.19<\/a>\u2014The Trump Administration urged the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) to reverse their Obama-era policy of providing workplace protections for LGBTQ Americans. The request comes weeks before oral arguments begin at the U.S. Supreme Court on October 8.<\/p>\n

\u201407.25.19<\/a>\u2014A Trump Administration official informs U.S. Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-MD) that the government is separating families with parents who have HIV and AIDS, citing it as a communicable disease. However, the Administration admits they are not separating families who have other communicable diseases, such as the flu\u2014further stigmatizing the HIV and AIDS epidemic.<\/p>\n

\u201407.08.19<\/a>\u2014The Trump Administration\u2019s State Department creates a \u201cCommission on Unalienable Rights\u201d aimed at providing \u201can informed review of the role of human rights in American foreign policy.\u201d However, seven of the appointees have disturbing anti-LGBTQ records, putting acceptance for the global LGBTQ community at risk.<\/p>\n

\u201406.12.19<\/a>\u2014Neither President Trump nor VP Pence recognized the third anniversary of the horrific shooting at Orlando\u2019s Pulse Nightclub, which killed 49 LGBTQ people.<\/p>\n

\u201406.07.19<\/a>\u2014The Trump Administration denies all U.S. Embassy buildings from flying the historic LGBTQ Pride Flag on embassy flagpoles in honor of June being National LGBTQ Pride Month.<\/p>\n

\u201406.05.19<\/a>\u2014The Trump Administration announced they would cut federal funding for an HIV and AIDS research program conducted by the University of California that uses fetal tissue in its research.<\/p>\n

\u201405.24.19<\/a>\u2014The Trump Administration announced a new policy stating transgender Americans would not be guaranteed health care protections under the Affordable Care Act, potentially harming 1.5 million trans Americans.<\/p>\n

\u201405.24.19<\/a>\u2014The Trump Administration announced plans to begin implementing a new policy which would allow adoption agencies to deny LGBTQ couples the ability to adopt based on so-called \u201creligious exemptions.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201405.22.19<\/a>\u2014The Trump Administration announced plans to rescind Obama-era policy which asked homeless shelters receiving federal dollars to grant transgender Americans the ability to use facilities according to their gender identity.<\/p>\n

\u201405.13.19<\/a>\u2014President Trump declares his opposition to the Equality Act, a direct flip flop from his previous stance on the issue more than a decade ago.<\/p>\n

\u201405.02.19<\/a>\u2014The Trump Administration, via the Department of Health and Human Services, issued a new rule allowing doctors and physicians the opportunity to deny Americans health care services based on their so-called religious beliefs, including seeking a \u201creligious exemption\u201d to deny life-saving health care for LGBTQ Americans.<\/p>\n

\u201404.17.19<\/a>\u2014The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announced the agency would no longer be collecting data on LGBTQ youth in foster care programs.<\/p>\n

\u201404.12.19<\/a>\u2014President Trump and his administration implement its ban barring transgender Americans from openly serving in the country\u2019s armed services.<\/p>\n

\u201404.10.19<\/a>\u2014During a House Education Committee hearing, Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos acknowledged that the administration\u2019s choice to rescind the Obama-era bathroom guidance\u2014which added protections for transgender students\u2014exposed trans students to additional harassment and discrimination in schools across the nation.<\/p>\n

\u201404.04.19<\/a>\u2014Housing and Urban Development Secretary Ben Carson refused to reinstate housing protection guidelines that would prevent LGBTQ Americans from experiencing discrimination while attaining a home, which include access to homeless shelters.<\/p>\n

\u201403.27.19<\/a>\u2014Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos refused to say on the record whether or not she opposed discrimination against LGBTQ people at schools during a House subcommittee hearing on education appropriations.<\/p>\n

\u201403.25.19<\/a>\u2014Trump Administration officials within the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency (ICE) were accused of abusing\u2014including harassment and denying health care services\u201412 immigrants who identify as LGBTQ.<\/p>\n

\u201403.12.19<\/a>\u2014In a late night decision, the Trump Administration announces plans to implement its ban on transgender service members from openly serving in the country\u2019s armed forces according to their gender identity, impacting more than 13,000 service members who are currently enlisted.<\/p>\n

\u201403.11.19<\/a>\u2014In its Fiscal Year Budget for 2020, the Trump Administration announced new plans to cut $250 million from the Global Fund, slash $1.5 billion from PEPFAR, and \u201climit future spending\u201d on Medicaid\u2014three components in the ongoing fight against HIV and AIDS.<\/p>\n

\u201402.27.19<\/a>\u2014During a House Armed Services Subcommittee hearing on the administration\u2019s ban on transgender services members from serving openly in the armed forces, Trump Administration officials used derogatory phrases such as \u201ca transgender,\u201d but they also called gender-confirmation surgery a \u201cdisqualifying surgery,\u201d comparing it to having cancer, heart disease, or diabetes.<\/p>\n

\u201402.08.19<\/a>\u2014One day after defending a Michigan adoption agency during the National Prayer Breakfast, the Trump Administration confirms they intended to grant faith-based adoption agencies federal funds in its upcoming 2020 White House Budget. These faith-based adoption agencies actively use \u201creligious exemptions\u201d as an excuse to deny LGBTQ families the ability to adopt a child.<\/p>\n

\u201402.07.19<\/a>\u2014At the annual National Prayer Breakfast, President Trump praised Second Lady Karen Pence for teaching at a private Christian school known openly to discriminate against LGBTQ students and teachers, and defended a Michigan adoption agency for refusing to serve an LGBTQ family based on so-called \u201creligious exemptions.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201401.28.19<\/a>\u2014President Trump meets with Ginni Thomas, wife of U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, and anti-LGBTQ group Groundswell at the White House. According to news reports, Ms. Thomas led a meeting with President Trump at the White House where participants denounced transgender Americans and claimed the historic, nationwide marriage equality ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court was \u201charming the fabric of the United States.\u201d The Supreme Court is on the verge of deciding whether to take up a case regarding Trump\u2019s ban on allowing transgender service members from serving in the nation\u2019s armed forces.<\/p>\n

\u201401.23.19<\/a>\u2014The Trump Administration approved a waiver request by South Carolina Governor Henry McMaster, which could give faith-based adoption agencies the ability to deny LGBTQ couples adoption rights based on so-called \u201creligious exemptions\u201d\u2014all while using government tax dollars.<\/p>\n

\u201401.11.19<\/a>\u2014More than 13,000 federal workers identifying as LGBTQ do not receive a paycheck as President Trump\u2019s government shutdown becomes the longest shut down in U.S. history.<\/p>\n

\u201401.03.19<\/a>\u2014In a leaked memo by the Justice Department, the Trump Administration considers dissolving the \u201cdisparate impact\u201d regulation, which grants marginalized communities (including LGBTQ Americans) legal protections from unintended discrimination in housing, education, and other ways of life.<\/p>\n

\u201401.01.19<\/a>\u2014NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine invites Dmitry Rogozin, Director General of Roscosmos, to visit the United States. Rogozin, a politician, is vehemently anti-LGBTQ and even compared the community to ISIS.<\/p>\n

\u201412.21.18<\/a>\u2014The Department of Justice issued a \u201cStatement of Interest\u201d on a pending case involving the University of Iowa and an anti-LGBTQ student organization. The DOJ sided with the student group that indirectly bars an LGBTQ person from joining their organization. This indirect discrimination is known as a \u201cdisparate impact\u201d form of discrimination.<\/p>\n

\u201412.20.18<\/a>\u2014The Trump Administration tightens its regulations on access to food stamps, affecting about 1 in 4 LGBTQ adults who apply for the SNAP program.<\/p>\n

\u201412.19.18<\/a>\u2014The Trump Administration discharges two service members in the Air Force after disclosing their HIV-positive status to the Department of Defense.<\/p>\n

\u201412.09.18<\/a>\u2014The Trump Administration quietly shuts down a HIV research facility in Montana after the administration objected to the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and its scientists using fetal tissue as a part of its research to find a cure for HIV and AIDS.<\/p>\n

\u201411.30.18<\/a>\u2014The Trump Administration signs a trade agreement with Canada and Mexico that makes it clear the United States doesn\u2019t have to proactively combat anti-LGBTQ discrimination in order to adhere to the agreement.<\/p>\n

\u201411.23.18<\/a>\u2014The Trump Administration asks the United States Supreme Court to circumvent federal appeals courts and issue a ruling on transgender Americans\u2019 right to serve in the military.<\/p>\n

\u201410.25.18<\/a>\u2014U.S. officials at the United Nations are seeking to replace mentions of \u201cgender,\u201d e.g. \u201cgender-based violence,\u201d with alternative terminology, like \u201cviolence against women,\u201d erasing all references to gender identity and the issues relating to trans and gender non-conforming people.<\/p>\n

\u201410.24.18<\/a>\u2014The Department of Justice writes in a brief to the Supreme Court that it is legal to discriminate against transgender employees based on their gender identity, saying that banning sex discrimination under Title VII in the workplace does not extend to transgender workers.<\/p>\n

\u201410.21.18<\/a>\u2014The Department of Health and Human Services proposes in a new memo to adopt a definition of gender as determined “on a biological basis that is clear, grounded in science, objective and administrable.” Sex would be defined as either male or female, unchangeable, and determined by genitals a person is born with.<\/p>\n

\u201410.01.18<\/a>\u2014The Trump Administration\u2019s State Department announces a new policy that the same-sex, unmarried partners of United Nations employees will not be granted visas to stay in the U.S., effective immediately. In doing so, diplomats in same-sex partnerships who come from countries where same-sex marriage is illegal will either be forced to marry in the U.S. and risk repercussions, including threats, harassment, and even incarceration back home; quit their jobs; or separate for the sake of one partner\u2019s career.<\/p>\n

\u201407.30.18<\/a>\u2014President Trump\u2019s Attorney General Jeff Sessions announces his new \u201cReligious Liberty\u201d Task Force at the Department of Justice\u2019s Religious Liberty Summit. As stated by Sessions, the group\u2019s purpose is to ensure that the Justice Department upholds the administration\u2019s guidance for religious exemptions, which he released in October.<\/p>\n

\u201407.09.18<\/a>\u2014President Trump nominates Brett Kavanaugh for the U.S. Supreme Court seat made vacant by the retirement of Justice Anthony Kennedy. Kavanaugh has an extremely conservative record and has the support of Family Research Council (FRC), designated as an anti-LGBT hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center.<\/p>\n

\u201405.11.18<\/a>\u2014The Trump Administration rolls back protections for incarcerated transgender people that were intended to mitigate their exposure to sexual assault and abuse, allowing the Bureau of Prisons to \u201cuse biological sex as the initial determination for designation\u201d when placing trans people for housing, screening, and programs and services.<\/p>\n

\u201405.03.18<\/a>\u2014President Trump signs an executive order to create a new \u201cWhite House Faith and Opportunity Initiative\u201d that will be tasked with working on so-called \u201dreligious liberty\u201d issues across federal agencies.<\/p>\n

\u201404.18.18<\/a>\u2014Reporting revealed that The Trump Administration\u2019s President\u2019s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief gave a sizable grant to the anti-LGBTQ group Focus on the Family Africa on Sept. 18, 2017.<\/p>\n

\u201404.10.18<\/a>\u2014Reporting reveals that the White House is seeking to roll back vital data collection on LGBTQ youth by raising the minimum age that LGBTQ people can be asked questions about their sexual orientation and gender identity in the Department of Justice\u2019s National Crime Victimization Survey.<\/p>\n

\u201403.23.18<\/a>\u2014Reporting in Slate reveals that the Trump Administration worked closely with Tony Perkins, head of the anti-LGBTQ hate group Family Research Council<\/a> to draft their latest policy to implement Trump\u2019s ban transgender soldiers from openly serving in any capacity within the United States armed forces.<\/p>\n

\u201403.23.18<\/a>\u2014The Trump Administration announces a reworked attempt to ban all transgender people from serving in the military in response to the implementation of his original policy being frozen by four different federal courts who declared it likely to be unconstitutional.<\/p>\n

\u201403.20.18<\/a>\u2014The Department of Housing and Urban Development defends the Trump Administration\u2019s decision to remove guidelines from its website intended to prevent anti-LGBTQ discrimination in homeless shelters by arguing that transgender women accessing shelters make people \u201dnot comfortable.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201403.20.18<\/a>\u2014The Department of Education states that it is the Trump Administration\u2019s position to refuse to protect transgender students denied access to bathrooms and lockers based on their gender identity, even when faced with court rulings reaffirming that transgender students are protected under Title IX.<\/p>\n

\u201403.0818<\/a>\u2014The Trump Administration hosts Brent Bozell, the anti-LGBTQ founder of the fringe right-wing group Media Resource Center, at a White House roundtable.<\/p>\n

\u201403.05.18<\/a>\u2014The Department Housing and Urban Development Secretary moved to change its official mission statement by removing promises of inclusive and discrimination-free communities.<\/p>\n

\u201402.12.18<\/a>\u2014The Department of Education officially confirms they will not investigate or take action on any complaints filed by transgender students who are banned from restrooms that match their gender identity,<\/p>\n

\u201401.19.18<\/a>\u2014Reporting reveals that Trump Administration appointee Carl Higbie had made extreme racist, sexist, anti-Muslim, and anti-LGBTQ comments on the radio. He was removed from his White House position but then hired<\/a> by \u201cAmerica First Policies,\u201d a nonprofit created by six of Trump\u2019s top campaign aides.<\/p>\n

\u201401.18.18<\/a>\u2014The Department of Health and Human Services created a new department that shields healthcare workers who refuse to treat LGBTQ patients or those living with HIV by claiming moral or religious objections.<\/p>\n

\u201401.16.18<\/a>\u2014The Trump Administration promotes anti-LGBTQ religious exemptions in his Religious Freedom Day proclamation.<\/p>\n

\u201412.29.17<\/a>\u2014President Trump fires the entire White House Presidential Advisory Council on HIV\/AIDS.<\/p>\n

\u201412.29.17<\/a>\u2014The Trump Administration fires the entire White House Presidential Advisory Council on HIV\/AIDS.<\/p>\n

\u201412.22.17<\/a>\u2014Pres. Trump signs GOP-led tax reform bill into law. LGBTQ advocates note the state and local tax reduction will mean higher costs for LGBTQ people who live in areas with stronger non-discrimination protections, typically more progressive states and cities. “They will now be penalized for living in a safer community.\u201d LINK:<\/p>\n

\u201412.15.17<\/a>\u2014Staff at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention at were instructed not to use the words \u201ctransgender,\u201d \u201cvulnerable,\u201d \u201centitlement,\u201d \u201cdiversity,\u201d \u201cfetus,\u201d \u201cevidence-based,\u201d and \u201cscience-based\u201d in official documents.<\/p>\n

\u201412.05.17<\/a>\u2014The Department of Justice argues in support of baker who denied service to a gay couple during the Supreme Court oral arguments for the case Masterpiece Cakeshop v. Colorado Civil Rights Commission.<\/p>\n

\u201412.05.17<\/a>\u2014White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders tells reporters that theTrump Administration backs the position that businesses owners should be able to put up signs saying they won\u2019t serve LGBT customers.<\/p>\n

\u201412.01.17<\/a>\u2014The Trump Administration leaves out the LGBTQ community and people of color from the official World AIDS Day Proclamation.<\/p>\n

\u201410.16.17<\/a>\u2014In a profile on Vice President Mike Pence<\/a> that ran in the New Yorker, President Trump reportedly joked of Pence when asked about LGBTQ rights: \u201dDon\u2019t ask that guy\u2014he wants to hang them all!\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201410.11.17<\/a>\u2014The Trump Administration\u2019s National Park Services withdrew its sponsorship of New York City\u2019s first permanent Pride Flag, located outside of the historic Stonewall Inn, and dropped out of its pre-scheduled participation in the flag dedication ceremony.<\/p>\n

\u201410.06.17<\/a>\u2014The Department of Justice issues a sweeping \u201dreligious exemptions\u201d guidance which invites taxpayer-funded federal agencies, government employees, and government contractors to legally discriminate against LGBTQ employees as long as they cite a religious belief as the reason for doing it.<\/p>\n

\u201410.06.17<\/a>\u2014The Department of Health and Human Services rolls back the Affordable Care Act\u2019s birth control benefit, allowing the use of \u201creligious exemptions\u201d to deny health care to women, trans men, and gender non-conforming people who rely on the no-copay contraception benefit.<\/p>\n

\u201410.05.17<\/a>\u2014In a Department of Justice memo, the Trump Administration reverses a policy that provided non-discrimination protections for transgender people in the workplace under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.<\/p>\n

\u201410.3.17<\/a>\u2014The Department of Health and Human Services erases all mentions of the LGBTQ community and their health needs in its strategic plan<\/a> for the fiscal year 2018-2022.<\/p>\n

\u201409.22.17<\/a>\u2014The Education Department rescinds the Obama Administration-era Title IX guidance on investigating campus sexual assault; LGBTQ students experience sexual harassment at disproportionately high rates<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201409.08.17<\/a>\u2014Reporting reveals the CIA canceled a planned speech about diversity and LGBTQ rights set to be given by Judy and Dennis Shepard, founders of the Matthew Shepard Foundation<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201409.07.17<\/a>\u2014The Justice Department files an amicus brief in support ofso-called \u201creligious exemptions\u201d to discriminate against LGBTQ Americans.<\/p>\n

\u201409.07.17<\/a>\u2014The Education Department announces it will roll back Obama Administration-era Title IX guidelines which protected sexual assault survivors on college and university campuses.<\/p>\n

\u201409.05.17<\/a>\u2014The Trump Administration ends the DACA program which protected an estimated 800,000 young undocumented immigrants, including an estimated 39,000 LGBTQ DREAMers<\/a>, from detention and deportation.<\/p>\n

\u201408.27.17<\/a>\u2014Reporting reveals the CIA consulted with Tony Perkins, president of the Family Research Council<\/a>, an anti-LGBTQ hate group according to the Southern Poverty Law Center.<\/p>\n

\u201408.25.17<\/a>\u2014The Trump Administration officially directs the Pentagon to move forward with his ban on transgender service members openly serving in the U.S. Military. The discriminatory policy is due to take effect on March 23, 2018.<\/p>\n

\u201408.25.17<\/a>\u2014The Trump Administration pardons former Arizona Sheriff Joe Arpaio, a criminal known for terrorizing the Latinx community with inmate abuses, unjustified arrests, and racial profiling.<\/p>\n

\u201408.12.17<\/a>\u2014Vice President Mike Pence stands by President Trump after he refused to condemn white supremacists who chanted violently racist and anti-LGBTQ slurs<\/a> during a rally in Charlottesville, VA.<\/p>\n

\u201407.26.17\u2014<\/a>The Justice Department files a brief opposing workplace nondiscrimination protection for the LGBTQ community under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1864 in the case Zarda v. Altitude Express.<\/p>\n

\u201407.26.17<\/a>\u2014The Trump Administration announces they will ban transgender service members from serving in \u201cany capacity\u201d in the U.S. military.<\/p>\n

\u201407.25.17<\/a>\u2014Reporting reveals Vice President Mike Pence advocated for the removal of healthcare benefits for transgender servicemembers within the U.S. military behind closed doors.<\/p>\n

\u201407.12.17\u2014<\/a>In a closed-door and unannounced opportunity, President Donald Trump and Vice President Mike Pence posed for a photograph with notorious anti-LGBTQ activists who wish to promote so-called \u201creligious exemptions\u201d that would harm LGBTQ Americans across the nation.<\/p>\n

\u201406.29.17\u2014<\/a>Reports revealed the Trump Administration hired anti-transgender activist, Bethany Kozma, to the Office of Gender Equality and Women\u2019s Rights at the U.S. Agency for International Development.<\/p>\n

\u201406.28.17\u2014<\/a>The Department of Justice ejected reporters covering a DOJ Pride event hosted by LGBTQ affinity groups for federal workers.<\/p>\n

\u201406.27.17<\/a>\u2014The Trump Administration failed to mention the LGBTQ community in their National HIV Testing Day statement.<\/p>\n

\u201406.17.17<\/a>\u2014Six members of the Presidential Advisory Council on HIV\/AIDS resigned saying that the Trump Administration \u201csimply does not care\u201d about combating the HIV\/AIDS epidemic.<\/p>\n

\u201406.16.17<\/a>\u2014An obtained internal memo from the Department of Education Office for Civil Rights reveals guidelines to dismiss complaints about bathroom access filed by transgender students.<\/p>\n

\u201406.15.17<\/a>\u2014Department of Commerce removes sexual orientation and gender identity from the agency\u2019s Equal Employment Policy; LGBTQ protections have been explicitly included since 2010. Only after fierce opposition did Secretary Wilbur Ross change it back<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201406.15.17<\/a>\u2014The Department of Education invites Focus on the Family and the Family Research Council, two anti-LGBTQ organizations, to be speakers for a daylong conference on engaging fathers in their children\u2019s education and welfare.<\/p>\n

\u201406.15.17<\/a>\u2014The Department of Education rolls back the Office for Civil Rights\u2019 expansive approach to investigating civil rights complaints that seek to protect LGBTQ students, and other marginalized communities, from discrimination at school.<\/p>\n

\u201406.01.17<\/a>\u2014The Trump Administration declines to issue a presidential proclamation designating June as LGBTQ Pride Month, breaking with an eight-year precedent set by President Barack Obama to honor and support LGBTQ Americans during Pride Month.<\/p>\n

\u201405.23.17\u2014<\/a>The Trump Administration reveals their budget which includes proposed slashes to programs and departments critical to the LGBTQ community, including Medicaid, Planned Parenthood, and the Center for Disease Control\u2019s HIV and AIDS programs.<\/p>\n

\u201405.22.17<\/a>\u2014The Trump Administration grants White House press credentials to a \u201creporter\u201d from Infowars, a conspiracy outlet that regularly peddles dangerous, offensive and anti-LGBTQ content.<\/p>\n

\u201405.08.17<\/a>\u2014Department of Agriculture issues new so-called \u201creligious freedom\u201d policy statement, a move praised<\/a> by the anti-LGBTQ Family Research Council.<\/p>\n

\u201405.04.17<\/a>\u2014President Trump, with Vice President Mike Pence at his side, signs a \u201creligious liberty\u201d executive order. Although this EO does not target LGBTQ Americans, it is the first step in what could be a much broader permission slip for discrimination against the LGBTQ community.<\/p>\n

\u201404.14.17<\/a>\u2014The Trump Administration files to dismiss a lawsuit accusing North Carolina of discriminating against the LGBTQ community in response to HB2, despite the similarities of the HB142 replacement.<\/p>\n

\u201404.10.17<\/a>\u2014A ProPublica investigation reveals the Trump Administration appointed James Renne, a key staffer involved in the Bush-era anti-LGBTQ purge of gay government employees, to a senior role at the Department of Agriculture.<\/p>\n

\u201403.28.17<\/a>\u2014The Trump Administration cancels plans to add the LGBTQ community to its upcoming 2020 U.S. Census.<\/p>\n

\u201403.28.17<\/a>\u2014Under the proposed budget for the U.S. Congress, The Trump Administration offered to cut HIV and AIDS research funding under the National Institutes of Health (NIH).<\/p>\n

\u201403.24.17<\/a>\u2014The Trump Administration appoints anti-LGBTQ activist and former Heritage Foundation employee Roger Severino to lead the Health and Human Services Civil Rights Office, putting the LGBTQ community at risk of losing access to critical and affordable health care.<\/p>\n

\u201403.20.17<\/a>: The Trump Administration erases the LGBTQ community from The National Survey of Older Americans Act Participants and the Annual Program Performance Report for Centers for Independent Living, key surveys that are used to help provide care to American seniors\u2014including disability, transportation, and caregiver support needs.<\/p>\n

\u201402.22.17<\/a>\u2014The Trump Administration rescinds Title IX protections for transgender students in our nation\u2019s schools.<\/p>\n

\u201402.02.17<\/a>: ABC News reports that after previously committing to protecting LGBTQ Americans from discrimination, the Trump Administration had drafted a \u201cLicense to Discriminate\u201d executive order which would usher in across-the-board discrimination against the LGBTQ community.<\/p>\n

\u201401.27.17<\/a>: The Trump Administration issues an executive order to indefinitely ban Syrian refugees from entering the United States. This ban includes LGBTQ refugees fleeing the nation in fear of discrimination. A<\/p>\n

\u201401.20.17<\/a>: Minutes after Donald Trump and Mike Pence were sworn into office, any mention of the LGBTQ community was erased from White House, Department of State, and Department of Labor websites.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Governor of Indiana<\/strong><\/h3>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u2014As governor of Indiana, Pence earned national notoriety for signing <\/a>a so-called \u201creligious freedom\u201d bill that religious conservatives in his state (many of whom Pence invited to attend the private bill signing<\/a>) championed for the purposes of allowing business owners the right to refuse service to LGBTQ customers. After outcry and boycotts, Pence was forced to sign an amended version <\/a>that made it clear the law cannot be used to discriminate on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity.<\/p>\n

\u2014Said<\/a> he and the President believe in ending the Obama administration\u2019s guidance on public schools allowing transgender students to use bathrooms and facilities that match their gender identity.<\/p>\n

\u2014Supported<\/a> anti-LGBTQ Federal Marriage Amendment with claims that being gay is a \u201cchosen lifestyle,\u201d and a warning that \u201csocietal collapse was always brought about following an advent of the deterioration of marriage and family.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2014First ran for Congress on a platform that called on lawmakers<\/a> to \u201coppose any effort to put gay and lesbian relationships on an equal legal status with heterosexual marriage,\u201d to \u201coppose any effort to recognize homosexuals as a \u2018discreet and insular minority\u2019 entitled to the protection of anti-discrimination laws similar to those extended to women and ethnic minorities,\u201d and to \u201csupport the reauthorization of the Ryan White Care Act only after completion of an audit to ensure that federal dollars were no longer being given to organizations that celebrate and encourage the types of behaviors that facilitate the spreading of the HIV virus.\u201d Pence called on these federal dollars to instead be \u201cdirected toward those institutions which provide assistance to those seeking to change their sexual behavior.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2014Claimed<\/a> repealing the military\u2019s discriminatory \u201cdon\u2019t ask, don\u2019t tell\u201d policy would turn the Armed Forces into a \u201cbackdrop for social experimentation.\u201d Sought to end<\/a> \u201cdon\u2019t ask, don\u2019t tell\u201d and restore a full ban on openly gay soldiers.<\/p>\n

\u2014Claimed<\/a> federal hate crimes legislation was really designed \u201cto advance a radical social agenda.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2014Stated<\/a> that LGBTQ-inclusive hate crime legislation would \u201csilence\u201d groups that promote so-called conversion therapy: \u201cFinally, pro-homosexual activist groups such as the Human Rights Campaign have stated their belief that an ad campaign by pro-family groups showing that many former homosexual people had found happiness in a heterosexual lifestyle, contributed to the tragic 1998 murder of homosexual college student Matthew Shepard. There is no evidence that his killers even knew about the ads, and Shepard\u2019s killers told ABC\u2019s 20\/20 that they were motivated by money and drugs. However, the danger here is that people use a hate crimes bill to silence the freedom of religious leaders to speak out against homosexuality.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2014Insisted<\/a> \u201cthere\u2019s no question to mainstream homosexuality within active duty military would have an impact on unit cohesion would have an impact on recruitment, an impact on readiness\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2014Signed on<\/a> to a letter demanding a federal appointee be fired because of his \u201crole in promoting homosexuality and pushing a pro-homosexual agenda in America\u2019s schools\u2014an agenda that runs counter to the values that many parents desire to instill in their children.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2014Referred<\/a> to undocumented immigrants as \u201ccriminal aliens.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2014Compared himself<\/a> to Noah trying to stop the flood of marriage equality: \u201cIt\u2019s important that every American use whatever means is necessary. I feel a little like Noah. Everybody laughed at him when he was building his boat. People may not understand the urgency, but we need to build a firewall to defend marriage.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":343,"featured_media":505888,"template":"","categories":[139163,138754],"tags":[],"region":[138565],"hashtag":[138636,138632,138637,138634],"class_list":{"0":"post-505887","1":"gap","2":"type-gap","3":"status-publish","4":"has-post-thumbnail","6":"category-elections","7":"category-gaps","8":"region-national","9":"hashtag-anti-transgender","10":"hashtag-politics","11":"hashtag-religion","12":"hashtag-trump"},"aioseo_notices":[],"apple_news_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t