Posted on 02/03/2017 11:45:29 AM PST by drewh
Members of the religious right with ties to the Trump administration say they have been lead to believe that some changes will still be coming.
Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump helped lead the charge to scuttle a draft executive order that would have overturned Obama-era enforcements of LGBT rights in the workplace, ultiple sources with knowledge of the situation said.
A draft executive order on LGBT rights — which outlines how to roll back former president Barack Obama’s protections and expand legal exemptions based on religious beliefs — has been circulating among journalists and worried progressive groups this week.
But two sources close to Kushner and Ivanka Trump, who have in the past been supporters of gay rights, said the young couple were both in favor of putting out a clear statement from the president, promising to uphold the 2014 Obama executive order and stopping the momentum for the turnaround in its tracks.
On Tuesday night, the White House released a statement noting that “President Donald J. Trump is determined to protect the rights of all Americans, including the LGBTQ community. President Trump continues to be respectful and supportive of LGBTQ rights, just as he was throughout the election.”
“The executive order signed in 2014, which protects employees from anti-LGBTQ workplace discrimination while working for federal contractors, will remain intact at the direction of President Donald J. Trump,” the statement continued.
White House officials downplayed the turnaround, suggesting that the draft LGBT executive order was never going to reach Trump’s desk for his signature. They described it as one of some 200 executive orders that were contemplated during the transition — some by outside groups, some by transition officials — and that it was never intended to become law, even without Kushner or anyone else pushing back on it.
“Some are real, some are drafts of things people like and some are ideas people from outside have suggested,” a White House official said, describing the executive orders that have been written.
But the statement did not quash the chatter completely. Members of the religious right with ties to the Trump administration said they have been lead to believe that some changes will still be coming. “I think they’re going to address the conflict that exists currently, which would preclude religious organizations from contracting with the federal government,” Tony Perkins, CEO of the Family Research Council, said in an interview. “I feel confident that they have an appreciation of religious freedom, and I’m pretty certain they’re going to address it. I’m talking to people in the Trump administration, and I know they understand the importance of this.”
Perkins said that Vice President Mike Pence has been involved and is “clearly sensitive to this.” If so, the fight over LGBT rights could reveal a fault line between Pence, an evangelical Catholic who as governor of Indiana signed the Religious Freedom Restoration Act in 2015; and Kushner, who is Jewish and whose social circle includes socially progressive New Yorkers.
“There are some in Trump’s family that have some views on these things,” said a source close to the discussions. “That’s where the decision is ultimately being made.”
Democratic groups like the nonprofit Center for American Progress are also continuing to fight against changes they expect could still be coming. “If accurate, this executive order would sanction sweeping taxpayer-funded discrimination against LGBT people, women, and their families in blatant violation of Trump’s promise to ‘protect our LGBT citizens,’” said Winnie Stachelberg, executive vice president for external affairs at CAP. Stachelberg said the White House statement left open a channel to broaden religious exemptions that prevent gay and transgender individuals from getting health care, or fostering a child.
“There are a lot of ideas that are being floated out,” White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer said at the briefing on Thursday when asked about the LGBT executive order. “Part of it is, the president does all the time, he asks for input, he asks for ideas, and on a variety of subjects there are staffing procedures that go on where people have a thought or an idea and it goes through the process.”
Some of the confusion stems from how the executive orders have been written. “It wouldn’t be surprising to me if there were lots of documents floating around that people wrote, where they thought the administration might go,” said James Carafano, a vice president at the Heritage Foundation, who advised the Trump transition on foreign policy issues.
“This president’s number one priority is demonstrating to the people that got him elected that he is doing the people’s business,” said Carafano.
But Carafano warned that an LGBT executive order would not make sense right now, because it’s not in line with any campaign promise made by Trump — the first Republican nominee to feature an openly gay speaker at his convention. “For them to put out an executive order that didn’t try and match up with the priorities that he campaigned on would be an unforced error,” said Carafano.
I did NOT VOTE for Ivanka and Jared.
Jared Kushner was a strong Democratic supporter before Trump entered the race.
keep them in the family wing and AWAY FROM POLICY! let Bannon and Kelly Anne do their jobs...
From what Sean Spicer said yesterday the drafts circulating are drafts that have been submitted by various people outside the administration for review. They were not Trump administration drafts. But the press is acting as if they are Trump administration drafts.
The press did the same thing with the agency internal memos limiting social media commentary, they acted as if they were White House memos and they weren’t.
Bannon was right to wait until Saturday to go around Jared...get him out of there soon!
Did people not listen to Trump’s acceptance speech?
Sounds like some real fakery to me.
If this is not propaganda, then I do not know what is. First the LBGTQabcdefg Executive Order leak...and then guess what: Jarrod and Ivanka come running to the rescue.
This kind of crap we do not need to hear. Just do your job.
While the LGBTQIM executive orders are both evil and unconstitutional, they are not the place to spend political capital right now. We need to focus on getting the Cabinet confirmed, building the wall, deporting illegals, and repealing Obamacare (replace after full repeal, if at all, not as part of the repeal). Cut the absolute size and intrusiveness of government now, while we have the advantage. The social wars issues can come later.
I don’t believe this story.
Trump never said he was going to do anything along these lines.
Fake news.
I don’t have an issue with gay workplace rights. I have a serious problem with forced association, such as Christian bakers being forced to bake a cake for a gay wedding.
Well, then, you will be happy to hear the Donald J. Trump is in charge of the Executive Branch, and has advisors, but no handlers.
He is not beholding to anyone except to what he promised the American People he would do. He made it quite clear that he supported all Americans, even queer Americans, but that there were much more important things to do that argue about bathrooms.
So relax and enjoy the show! ;-)
Exactly.
but if Jared and Ivanka have sway on this issue, what else are they doing on other ones like climate change?
It is going to be bannon/conway versus kushner...with GOPE Reince in there somewhere.
We are going to get some things we don’t like..but we will get a lot of things we do like. He better get SCOTUS picks right. So far..so good.
Fake News
looks like Reince is gonna be the ref! :)
General Mattis said something along the lines of getting rid of political correctness, promotion of social justice stuff, and making the military standard only what helps the actual mission of the military.
Paraphrasing.
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