Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner reportedly stepped in to halt potential LGBTQ executive order

Ivanka Trump and her husband, Jared Kushner, reportedly intervened to ensure President Donald Trump would not go forward with an executive order that would expand legal exemptions based on religious beliefs and limit protections for LGBTQ people, Politico reports.

"There are some in Trump's family that have some views on these things," a person close to the discussions said. "That's where the decision is ultimately being made." The person familiar with the talks added that both Kushner and Ivanka Trump are supportive of gay rights and it was the couple who pushed for the White House to make a clear statement Tuesday vowing to "protect the rights of all Americans, including the LGBTQ community."

"The executive order signed in 2014, which protects employees from anti-LGBTQ workplace discrimination while working for federal contractors, will remain intact at the direction of President Donald J. Trump," the statement said.

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up

White House officials downplayed the leaked executive order draft to Politico, insisting it might never have even reached President Trump's desk in the first place and that it was one of 200 orders mulled over by the transition team. "Some are real, some are drafts of things people like, and some are ideas people from outside have suggested," a White House official said.

Trump never made the restriction of LGBTQ rights or the expansion of religious freedoms a campaign promise during the run up to his election, although Tony Perkins, the CEO of the Family Research Council, said he expects some changes will be coming despite the influence of the president's daughter and son-in-law. "I feel confident that [the administration has] an appreciation of religious freedom, and I'm pretty certain they're going to address it," Perkins said. "I'm talking to people in the Trump administration, and I know they understand the importance of this." Read the full scoop at Politico.