Moving backwards
Bipartisan Commission on Civil Rights slams Trump administration for 'undoing decades of civil and human rights progress'
The Trump administration is "undoing decades of civil and human rights progress," especially regarding LGBTQ issues, the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights said in a report published last Thursday.
The study is the result of a two-year probe launched after several agencies announced budget and personnel cuts in departments that oversee civil rights. Stripping these divisions of resources, the commission found, left "allegations of civil rights violations unredressed."
The federal watchdog group also alleged that the administration's application of "religious liberty" guidance since 2017 has been marginalizing LGBTQ communities. The report cites the example of the DOJ supporting a Colorado-based baker who refused to sell cake to a same-sex couple in a discriminatory lawsuit, as well the "elimination of data collection on LGBTQ status."
In a statement, the White House denounced the report as a product of the "radical left" to paint LGBTQ Americans as "threatened," reports NBC News.
While the independent, bipartisan commission will not be able to enforce their findings, the report will still be presented to Congress at the end of the year. "After that," notes NBC News, "it's up to legislators to act."