Trump expected to sign 'license to discriminate' order

Donald Trump is expected to sign an executive order on May 4 intended to allow people to cite their religious beliefs as basis for discrimination.

Responding, Louise Melling, deputy legal director of the American Civil Liberties Union, said, “The ACLU fights every day to defend religious freedom, but religious freedom does not mean the right to discriminate against or harm others. If President Trump signs an executive order that attempts to provide a license to discriminate against women or LGBT people, we will see him in court.”

Protesters demonstrated in Washington, D.C., May 3 after media reports the president planned to sign the order, which has been circulating at the White House since the inauguration. Vice President Mike Pence, the former governor of Indiana, is said to be one of the chief proponents of the "license to discriminate" order.

“Donald Trump’s rumored unconstitutional action is nothing more than a license-to-discriminate order that puts millions of LGBTQ people at risk,” said Chad Griffin, president of the Human Rights Campaign, in a news release. “There is no religious freedom crisis in America today, but there is a crisis of hate and discrimination."

He added, "At a time when two-thirds of all LGBTQ people report having experienced discrimination, Donald Trump is making the problem worse by giving legal cover to perpetrators. By even considering this discriminatory order he has broken his promise to be a president for all Americans.”

HRC Legal Director Sarah Warbelow said, “The Constitution already protects the ability to exercise one’s religion. What our Constitution does not permit is wielding religion as a weapon of discrimination against someone else, particularly with taxpayer funds.”

Already, more than 50 percent of Americans live in an area of the United States where LGBTQ people are at risk of being fired, evicted or denied services because of who they are — and two-thirds of LGBTQ people report having faced such discrimination in their lives.

Trump’s order has been a longtime political priority of anti-LGBTQ organizations, including one hate group, the Family Research Council.

HRC said an analysis of the draft order leaked in January indicates these risks:

An LBT woman suffering from intimate partner violence could be refused screening and counseling for domestic violence if a provider holds religious objections to same-sex relationships.

• Transgender women could be turned away when seeking preventative care — including cancer screenings and mammograms.
• A Social Security Administration employee could refuse to accept or process spousal or survivor benefits paperwork for a surviving same-sex spouse.
• A federal contractor could launch a cyber-bullying campaign against an LGBTQ organization for advocating on behalf of transgender people without losing the contract.
• Agencies receiving federal funding, and even their individual staff members, could refuse to provide services to LGBTQ children in crisis, or to place adoptive or foster children with a same-sex couple simply because of their sexual orientation.