DNC Director of Outreach Communications Tracy King released the following statement: 

“President Biden and Vice President Harris are fighting to make sure every American can live out and proud, no matter who they are or who they love. The Biden-Harris administration is expanding civil rights laws to protect LGBTQ+ Americans, uplifting LGBTQ+ voices through historic appointments, and working to protect health care and IVF access. Meanwhile, Donald Trump gutted LGBTQ+ anti-discrimination protections, banned transgender Americans from the military, and appointed judges who oppose same-sex marriage. President Biden wants to honor and celebrate the LGBTQ+ Americans who have fought bravely to live their lives proudly and authentically – Donald Trump wants to rip away their civil rights and their freedoms.” 

On Day One, President Biden signed an executive order to prohibit the federal government from engaging in workplace discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity.

The Advocate: “On his first day in office, January 20, 2021, Biden signed an executive order assuring that the federal government will not engage in workplace discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity, and that it is expected to stand against such discrimination in the private sector as well. The order builds on the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2020 decision in Bostock v. Clayton County, which held that the federal law banning sex discrimination also applied to bias based on sexual orientation and gender identity. Donald Trump’s administration had largely ignored the ruling and had argued before the court for a different outcome.”

President Biden is helping LGBTQ+ people shatter the glass ceiling by elevating their voices through historic appointments.

The Hill: “As the Biden administration celebrates Pride Month, it boasts an array of officials in its ranks who represent historic firsts in their respective positions.

“White House officials frequently tout the diversity of President Biden’s administration, including that roughly 15 percent of all appointees identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer.”

Pete Buttigieg: The first openly gay Senate-confirmed Cabinet secretary in U.S. history and has served as Transportation secretary in the Biden administration since February 2021.

Karine Jean-Pierre: First Black, gay immigrant woman to be appointed as the White House Press Secretary

Ben LaBolt: An Obama-administration veteran with ties to the Biden team, LaBolt is the first openly gay White House communications director.

Rachel Levine: Dr. Rachel Levine’s confirmation to the Department of Health and Human Services by the Senate on Wednesday made her the first openly transgender federal official in the nation’s history.

Stuart Delery: A longtime advocate for LGBTQ rights, will be the first openly LGBTQ person to serve as White House counsel when he assumes the position next month, President Biden announced on Wednesday. 

Ned Price: The first out gay man to be State Department spokesman, is taking on a new role: deputy to the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, Linda Thomas-Greenfield.

Chantale Wong: With her confirmation in December 2021, [Chantale] Wong became the first out lesbian and first LGBTQ person of color to be confirmed to the rank of ambassador.

Shawn Skelly: Skelly will serve as assistant secretary of defense for readiness, becoming the first transgender person to hold the post and the highest-ranking out trans defense official in U.S. history.

The Hill: “In addition to the officials working throughout the Biden administration, there have been a slew of federal judges nominated and confirmed over the past two years that have broken barriers as LGBTQ jurists.”

President Biden signed the Respect for Marriage Act into law, nationally enshrining all the benefits and obligations of marriages for same-sex couples.

CBS News: “The Respect for Marriage Act overturns the 1996 Defense of Marriage Act, which prohibited the federal government from recognizing marriages that were not between a man and a woman. It also requires states to recognize any valid marriage performed in other states, regardless of sex.”

Human Rights Campaign, Press Release: “HISTORIC VICTORY: The Respect for Marriage Act is Law”

“Arguably the biggest legislative win in the fight for LGBTQ+ equality since the so-called ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ law was repealed in 2010, this legislation will guarantee the federal rights, benefits and obligations of marriages in the federal code for same-sex couples; repeal the discriminatory Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA); and affirm that public acts, records and proceedings should be recognized by all states.”

President Biden expanded the ACA’s zero-premium options and protections for people with preexisting conditions like HIV/AIDS and is fighting to keep IVF and surrogacy accessible.

Assistant Secretary For Planning and Evaluation: “The American Rescue Plan (ARP) increased the generosity of premium subsidies available in the Marketplace. In addition to the ACA improving rates of healthcare coverage for the LGBTQ+ community, the ARP extends and expands Marketplace subsidies, which will enable many Americans including LGBTQ+ individuals to access more affordable coverage.

“Based on the survey estimates above, if that same share (79 percent) of LGB+ enrollees in Marketplace coverage have a zero‐premium option under the ARP, this would total roughly 210,000† LGB+ Marketplace enrollees having access to a zero‐premium plan.”

Vox: “To put it simply, the ACA was a ‘watershed moment in the [HIV] epidemic’s history,’ as the Kaiser Family Foundation’s director of global health and HIV policy, Jennifer Kates, told me in 2017. The law was designed to get more people access to health care, including those who were traditionally denied coverage because of ‘preexisting conditions’ like HIV, or who were driven out of the marketplace because their health care was unaffordable. And so under the law, the disease was no longer a barrier to health insurance.”

HIV.gov: “The ACA also authorized an optional Medicaid State Plan benefit for states to establish Health Homes to coordinate care for Medicaid beneficiaries with certain chronic health conditions. HIV/AIDS is one of the chronic health conditions that states may request approval to cover.”

Pink News: “Biden slams ‘outrageous’ Alabama court ruling that frozen embryos are ‘children’”

“Now, president Biden has denounced the ‘outrageous’ ruling that puts access to ‘some fertility treatments for families who are desperately trying to get pregnant’ at risk.”

“IVF and other fertility treatments have been used by LGBTQ+ couples and single parents to expand their families. 

“For LGBTQ+ couples, the path to parenthood can be long and difficult, given that they face entrenched inequality in how the care is provided by health insurers and employers. Additionally, the costs of conceiving via fertility treatments can be high for LGBTQ+ couples.” 

Trump’s DOJ reversed discrimination protections for LGBTQ+ Americans.

New York Times: “Justice Department Says Rights Law Doesn’t Protect Gays” 

“The Justice Department has filed court papers arguing that a major federal civil rights law does not protect employees from discrimination based on sexual orientation, taking a stand against a decision reached under President Barack Obama.

“Against that backdrop, the Trump Justice Department’s decision to file the brief strongly declaring that sex discrimination does not encompass bias based only on sexual orientation was a striking shift in tone.”

Instead of welcoming LGBTQ+ people into our federal agencies, Trump banned transgender people from the military through a series of tweets that surprised even his most senior military leaders.

New York Times: “Trump Says Transgender People Will Not Be Allowed in the Military” 

“President Trump abruptly announced a ban on transgender people serving in the military on Wednesday, blindsiding his defense secretary and Republican congressional leaders with a snap decision that reversed a year-old policy reviled by social conservatives.

“Mr. Trump made the declaration on Twitter, saying that American forces could not afford the ‘tremendous medical costs and disruption’ of transgender service members. He said he had consulted generals and military experts, but Jim Mattis, the defense secretary, was given only a day’s notice about the decision.”

Trump appointed judges who oppose same-sex marriage and said he was against it because he just doesn’t “feel good about it.” 

NBC News: “A third of Trump’s court nominees have anti-LGBTQ history, report finds”

NBC News: “Trump stacked courts with judges ‘hostile’ toward gays, rights group says”

“Nearly 40 percent of President Donald Trump’s confirmed federal appellate judges have demonstrated anti-LGBTQ bias, the organization claimed, from opposing same-sex marriage and protecting businesses’ rights to reject gay customers to helping implement the military’s transgender ban.”

O’Reilly: “All right. Gay marriage, favor it?” 

Trump: “I’m against it.”

O’Reilly: “Why?” 

Trump: “I just don’t feel good about it. I don’t feel right about it. I’m against it and I take a lot of heat because I come from New York. You know, for New York it’s like, how can you be against gay marriage? But I’m opposed to gay marriage.” 

The Trump administration attempted to strip health care from LGBTQ+ patients, and his judges are coming for access to IVF – ripping away LGBTQ+ couples’ freedom to start a family.

Politico: “The Trump administration today proposed to scrap an Obama-era policy that prohibited health care providers from discriminating against transgender patients, in its latest rollback of federal protections for transgender people.

“The health department’s proposed rule, a rewrite of an Obamacare regulation that bars health care discrimination based on sex, would also strike down protections for LGBTQ patients.”

New York Times: “Republicans Struggle to Respond as Democrats Emphasize the Alabama I.V.F. Ruling”

“That was a reference to Mr. Trump’s boasts that, by appointing Justices Neil M. Gorsuch, Brett M. Kavanaugh and Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court, he had done what Republican presidents before him had not: create a conservative supermajority that overturned Roe v. Wade. Without that, the language in the Alabama Constitution that the state court cited would not have been enforceable.”