Good news -- Trump's Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has been blocked from rolling back the Obama-era protections for LGBT patients seeking health care.
Citing the Supreme Court's recent ruling that the Civil Rights Act does, in fact, cover sexual orientation and gender identity in employment, U.S. District Court Judge Frederic Block has stopped the Trump regime's rules from going into effect today.
The administration’s rule says federal law that bars discrimination in healthcare “on the basis of sex” does not cover gender identity or sex stereotyping.
Block said the legal basis of the regulation was now in question after the Supreme Court’s major ruling in June finding that LGBT people are protected under a federal law using similar language that bars employment discrimination. [...]
The Trump rule, intended to unwind Obama’s move, was challenged by two transgender women, Tanya Asapansa-Johnson Walker and Cecilia Gentili, who are represented by LGBT rights group Human Rights Campaign.
The idea that "sex" does not apply to a person's gender or sexual identity is so linguistically preposterous that the Supreme Court ruling that says otherwise was written by one of Trump's Supreme Court justices, Neil Gorsuch.
It's like saying Obamacare is invalid because the word "state" does not apply to actual states and the federal state. Republicans lost that case, too.
With Trump's new pro-discrimination rules being blocked today, it seems unlikely they will ever go into effect. But I can't say I feel absolutely confident about that. The only way to be sure if to replace Trump with Joe Biden in November.
Some liberals and leftists may say they can't support Joe Biden because he's not liberal enough, or whatever, but the decision for most people like me is far more simple. I know I won't have to worry about having my civil rights being taken away under Biden. For someone to say they won't vote because they're "not excited" about Biden when my life and the life of all minorities is on the line is frankly insulting. If Biden doesn't light your fire, that's fine, but we live in a society and have a duty to protect each other by voting against fascism. Even if you don't care about others, at least protect yourself by voting against fascism.