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

“Since Day One, President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris have stood up against Donald Trump and his MAGA allies’ hateful attacks against the LGBTQ+ community while working to protect Americans’ basic rights. Unlike Trump, President Biden has fought to end discrimination against all Americans based on their sexual orientation or gender identity, and has made sure that LGBTQ+ people have a seat at the table in his administration. LGBTQ+ Americans know that while Trump and MAGA Republicans are still trying to rip health care away from members of their community; railing against the Equality Act, which would enact LGBTQ+ anti-discrimination protections; and attempting to erase trans people’s basic human rights protections, President Biden has their backs and will always make sure LGBTQ+ Americans can live out and proud.”

On his first day in office, President Biden signed an executive order to prohibit 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 appointed a record number of LGBTQ+ people to serve in his administration.

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 is 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.

“When [Karine] Jean-Pierre stepped to the podium in the briefing room in May 2022 for her first briefing as press secretary, she acknowledged that she was breaking several barriers at once.

“‘I am a Black, gay, immigrant woman, the first of all three of those to hold this position. I would not be here today if it were not for generations of barrier-breaking people before me. I stand on their shoulders,’ Jean-Pierre said.”

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

“[Rachel] Levine has served as an assistant secretary for health in the Department of Health and Human Services since 2021, the first openly transgender four-star officer in the public health corps or across the uniformed services of the military.

“[Ned] Price served as the State Department press secretary for roughly two years, becoming the first openly gay individual to do so.

“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.

“Wong serves as the Biden administration’s director of the Asian Development Bank. The Senate voted 66-31 in late 2021 to confirm her to the position.

“[Shawn] Skelly is the highest ranking openly transgender Pentagon official and the second transgender person to ever be confirmed by the Senate.

“Skelly was confirmed in July 2021 as assistant secretary of Defense for readiness. 

“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.

“Biden nominated the first two openly LGBTQ women ever to serve as federal circuit court judges in Beth Robinson of Vermont and Alison Nathan of New York, both of whom both serve on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit.”

President Biden strengthened the ACA, which expanded zero-premium options and has protections for people with preexisting conditions like HIV/AIDS.

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: “Under the Affordable Care Act, PrEP is free under almost all health insurance plans. PrEP is a preventive service and should be covered without charging you a co-payment or co-insurance. This is true even if you haven’t met your yearly deductible. That means you can’t be charged for your PrEP medication, the clinic visits to see your health care provider, and lab tests you need to get and maintain your prescription. There are no out-of-pocket costs for you.”

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.”

Reuters: “The Biden administration on Monday finalized a deal to preserve the federal mandate requiring U.S. health insurers to cover preventive care like cancer screenings and HIV-preventing medication at no extra cost to patients while a legal challenge continues.”

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.”

Trump’s DOJ went out of its way to argue against sex discrimination protections.

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.”

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.”

The Trump administration wanted to erase trans people by removing the word “gender” from human rights documents.

The Guardian: “Trump administration wants to remove ‘gender’ from UN human rights documents” 

“US officials at the United Nations are seeking to eliminate the word ‘gender’ from UN human rights documents, most often replacing it with ‘woman’, apparently as part of the Trump administration’s campaign to define transgender people out of existence.”

Trump said he was “against” gay marriage because he just doesn’t “feel good about it.” 

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 tried to rip away health care from LGBTQ+ patients.

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.”

Trump’s Department of Housing and Urban Development urged shelters to reject LGBTQ+ people from accessing their resources.

Politico: “The Department of Housing and Urban Development is moving to roll back protections for homeless transgender people by enabling HUD-funded providers of shelters to consider a person’s sex or gender identification in determining whether they can be admitted.

“It would turn back requirements under an Obama-era rule that operators of single-sex shelters who receive HUD funding ‘provide equal access to programs, benefits, services, and accommodations in accordance with an individual’s gender identity.’”