The Movement Advancement Project, along with the Center for American Progress, Equality Federation, GLSEN, National Center for Transgender Equality, and SAGE, released a list of actions the Biden administration can take immediately after taking office in January to support LGBTQ people and their families. The groups also outlined longer-term priorities and legislative opportunities, including passing the Equality Act.
LGBTQ people have been under attack from the federal government for the last four years, as have too many other communities. The new Biden administration presents many opportunities for rebuilding and expanding our nation’s commitment to equality for LGBTQ people and our families.
- Create a federal plan to address the rampant and increasing violence against transgender people, especially black transgender women.
- Act quickly to protect LGBTQ people from discrimination.
- Reverse the ban of transgender people in military service.
- Immediately release people held by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), including transgender asylum seekers and people living with HIV, from detention facilities.
- Set public health goals to achieve the end of the U.S. HIV epidemic and elimination of HIV‐related health disparities by 2025.
- Ensure that the Federal Bureau of Corrections place people in facilities that match their gender identity.
- Restore the United States’ leadership on human rights and safety internationally for LGBTQ people.
- Direct the Department of Justice to review and update agency positions on ongoing litigation, such as lower court challenges of the Affordable Care Act, Title IX litigation for transgender students, and others to reflect Bostock and the importance of nondiscrimination protections.
- Create an LGBTQ equity policy council.
- Direct federal agencies to protect LGBTQ youth, LGBTQ elders, and transgender people in housing, healthcare, education, and other vital programs.
The incoming Biden administration presents additional opportunities to support LGBTQ people. Some of these will require coordination across federal agencies, and others will require Congressional approval.
In particular, the Biden administration should ensure robust enforcement of federal civil rights protections. Additionally, the administration should improve access to accurate identity documents for transgender and nonbinary people by working across federal agencies to streamline the processes for obtaining updated social security and passport identification documents. Identity documents should include a third sex marker for nonbinary people.
Priority legislation that the Biden administration must work with Congress to pass include:
- Equality Act, which would update our nation’s civil rights laws to prohibit discrimination based on sex, sexual orientation, and gender identity in key areas of life.
- Do No Harm Act, which would clarify when RFRA can be used and when discrimination should not be permitted.
- Every Child Deserves a Family Act, which would protect LGBTQ youth and families from discrimination in the child welfare system.
- GLOBE Act, which would build a U.S. diplomatic framework to protect LGBTQ people worldwide.
- Ruthie & Connie LGBT Elder Americans Act, which would establish LGBT older people as a greatest social need population under the Older Americans Act.
- Safe Schools Improvement Act, which will require every school district to develop policies related to bullying and harassment based on a student’s actual or perceived race, color, national origin, sex, disability, sexual orientation, gender identity, or religion.
LGBTQ people and our families across the country should be able to live our lives free from discrimination or violence, and without barriers based on who we are or who we love. By enacting these policy measures, the Biden administration can begin to undo some of the harms of the last four years and chart a path forward that is based in equality and fairness for all.
About MAP: MAP’s mission is to provide independent and rigorous research, insight, and communications that help speed equality and opportunity for all. MAP works to ensure that all people have a fair chance to pursue health and happiness, earn a living, take care of the ones they love, be safe in their communities, and participate in civic life.
[From a News Release]
