A New Day: How will President Biden’s policies impact the LGBTQ+ community?

A president who makes LGBTQ+ safety a priority on Day One in The Oval Office, is one who sends a clear message that equality is high up on their agenda. On his first day as leader of the United States of America, President Biden issued a sweeping executive order which will protect LGBTQ+ people in the workplace, the military, across team sports, in schools, healthcare and a variety of other community activities.

Alphonso David, president of the Human Rights Campaign, the country’s largest LGBTQ+ advocacy group, called it “the most substantive, wide-ranging” executive order concerning sexual orientation and gender identity ever issued by a United States president.”

President Biden has prioritised LGBTQ+ rights across three main areas; policy, representation and communication.

Policy

The Executive Order directs agencies to enforce federal laws that prohibit sex discrimination to include discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity, consistent with the Bostock decision. This will include, but is not limited to, employment, education, housing and health care. 

Importantly, the executive order also acknowledges that discrimination against LGBTQ+ people often overlaps with discrimination based on their other characteristics, including race and disability.

Representation

Rachel Levine, Assistant Secretary of Health

President Biden’s administration is on track to be the most LGBTQ-inclusive and visibly representative in U.S. history. Representation matters because it can shape how minorities are viewed by society and how they view themselves. His groundbreaking team includes a broad spectrum of LGBTQ+ officials in key roles across the cabinet. 

Notably, Biden has chosen Rachel Levine, Pennsylvania’s health secretary, as his Assistant Secretary of Health. Levine is the first ever openly transgender federal official to be confirmed by the US Senate.

Communication

A key part of Biden’s mission towards equality is inclusive communication and this has been immediately evident. As Biden was inaugurated, the White House website added gender-neutral pronouns. People who identify as non-binary, neither exclusively male nor female, can now select the gender-neutral title “Mx” on the White House website’s contact page, which also added a drop-down list of personal pronouns, including “they/them”.

LGBTQ+ advocates welcomed the new approach. “On Day One, the Biden administration has taken immediate steps to include trans, non-binary, and gender nonconforming people in the conversation,” Sarah Kate Ellis, head of U.S. LGBT+ advocacy group GLAAD, said in an emailed statement. “Research has shown that recognition and respect of our pronouns can make all the difference for our health and wellbeing - especially when it comes to LGBTQ youth.”

While these initial changes are proactive and a step in the right direction, there is a huge amount of work to be carried out in the equality space across the United States. More transgender and gender nonconforming people were killed in the US in 2020 than any year since the Human Rights Campaign (HRC) first began tracking these numbers in 2013.

As of the end of November 2020, a least 37 trans and gender nonconforming people were killed last year in what the HRC called "an epidemic of violence." Systemic transphobia requires an investment in education, mental and physical health supports for the community and enforcement of laws protecting transgender and non-binary people across the United States.

President Biden’s policies on equality send a resounding message across the globe. Discrimination and violence towards the LGBTQ+ community will not be accepted. People who identify as part of the community are not just to be tolerated, but celebrated as important and needed global citizens. Their voice matters and their lives are worthy, they are not just statistics of violence.

This administration is very much a welcome sigh of relief to Certified Proud, but also a breath of hope. We look forward to working with companies who wish to echo the values of President Biden, and make Ireland a safe place for LGBTQ+ people to work , regardless of their sexual orientation or gender identity.