Trump Administration Reverses Obama Policy: 'Gender Identity' NOT A Protected Civil Right

Fr. Mark Hodges : Oct 9, 2017
LifeSiteNews.com

Sessions went on to explain that the Obama administration overstepped its bounds in ascribing unimagined modern categories to a 52-year-old anti-discrimination law. Specifically, the former president officially interpreted civil rights legislation to include homosexuality and transgenderism.

(Washington, DC)—[LifeSiteNews.com] In a reversal of federal policy that pleased marriage advocates and angered LGBTQI groups, the U.S. Department of Justice issued a memo interpreting the Civil Rights Act of 1964 as not intended to apply to transgenders. (Photo: Rainbow and American flags/Creative Commons/ via Pixabay)

Attorney General Jeff Sessions wrote to the country's federal prosecutors that on "all pending and future matters" the DOJ will go by what Congress originally intended and not add unforeseen deviances when enforcing laws regarding equal treatment on the basis of "sex."

At issue is the word "sex." A section of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 criminalized discrimination based on "sex." Gay activists say that now includes sexual orientation and transgenderism. Strict originalists say the writers of the law clearly intended "sex" to mean male and female.

Sessions defended his stand by saying it was a simple matter of the historical intent of legislators, and does not necessarily indicate a strategic change. The understanding is "a conclusion of law, not policy," the memo read.

Sessions explained that the word "sex" in the 1964 law means "biologically male or female," so that particular statute says nothing about "discrimination based on gender identity per se, including transgender status."

Sessions went on to explain that the Obama administration overstepped its bounds in ascribing unimagined modern categories to a 52-year-old anti-discrimination law. Specifically, the former president officially interpreted civil rights legislation to include homosexuality and transgenderism.

Obama announced in 2014, "I have determined that the best reading of Title VII's prohibition of sex discrimination is that it encompasses discrimination based on gender identity, including transgender status."

"The Department of Justice cannot expand the law beyond what Congress has provided," Justice Department spokesman Devin O'Malley elaborated. "Unfortunately, the last administration abandoned that fundamental principle, which necessitated today's action"...

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