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Biden bans discrimination against LGBTQ people in healthcare

LGBTQ Issues,Transgender Issues

From the Left

The Biden administration has reversed a Trump-era policy that allowed healthcare providers to discriminate against LGBTQ people if they claimed a religious exemption.

The move will reinstate Obamacare guidance and expand them to include the recent Supreme Court ruling that sex discrimination includes sexual orientation and gender identity.

โ€œFear of discrimination can lead individuals to forgo care, which can have serious negative health consequences,โ€œ the Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra said in a statement. โ€œEveryone โ€“ including LGBTQ people โ€“ should be able to access healthcare, free from discrimination or interference, period.โ€

The Trump administration claimed protections against sex discrimination only extended to โ€œmale or female as determined by biology.โ€ But just three days after the rule was announced, the Supreme Court ruled in Bostock v. Clayton County that the ban on discrimination โ€œbecause of sexโ€ in Title VII in the Civil Rights Act of 1964 includes anti-LGBTQ discrimination when it comes to employment. The landmark victory has affected how a broad array of anti-discrimination protections apply to LGBTQ people.

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