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Trump Political Appointee Sues Biden After Refusing to Resign

New Civil Rights Movement | February 9, 2021

Topics: Administrative Conference of the United States, Biden administration, Department of Health and Human Services, Human Rights Campaign, Judicial Crisis Network, Office of Civil Rights, religious freedom, Roger Severino, Trump administration

Roger Severino, the anti-LGBTQ right-wing Christian activist who made things difficult for LGBTQ Americans during his time running HHS’s Office Of Civil Rights for Trump, is suing the Biden administration for firing him.

Roger Severino, a former Trump appointee at the Dept. of Health and Human Services who targeted LGBTQ Americans in his religious crusade as head of the Office of Civil Rights, is suing the Biden administration for firing him from his appointment by the former president to an obscure but powerful federal government agency known as ACUS.

He is refusing to resign, despite being a political appointee.

“President Biden’s attempt to remove me contrary to law exposes his lofty promises of healing and uniting all Americans as nothing more than cynical manipulation,” Severino defiantly told Newsweek.

“Because I am not one to be bullied, not even by the President himself, I will not resign my duly commissioned post and look forward to seeing how President Biden tries to justify his vindictive actions in court.”

Severino’s lawsuit claims that “President Biden has no constitutional authority under Article II to terminate Mr. Severino’s appointment to the Council.”

“The Council” is the Administrative Conference of the United States (ACUS), which holds sway over how U.S. government regulatory agencies operate.

Slate’s Mark Joseph Stern, who covers the courts and the law, writes on Twitter that “Severino’s substantive argument … seems to suggest that ACUS is part of no branch of government, but instead sits outside the executive branch on some heavenly plane.”

He calls the lawsuit “bonkers, BONKERS, just eye-melting galaxy-brain-level drivel.”

What’s especially pathetic, though, is that federal law doesn’t even protect Roger Severino from removal. He’s an at-will employee! He wants the federal judiciary to go beyond the text of the statute and find, in its penumbra, an implicit protection against removal. It is insane.

— Mark Joseph Stern (@mjs_DC) February 4, 2021

Severino spent his four years in the Trump administration working tirelessly to kill protections, many installed by the Obama administration, for LGBTQ patients, effectively promoting discrimination based on gender and sexual orientation. He also expanded opportunities for people of faith to claim anti-religion discrimination by creating the Conscience and Religious Freedom Division at HHS.

At HHS Severino called Obama-era protections for transgender patients “unnecessary.”

And in defending an anti-LGBTQ “religious freedom” regulation, Severino told reporters, “Patients want doctors who match their values.”

As NCRM has previously reported, Severino has been called a “radical” anti-LGBTQ religious right activist by the Human Rights Campaign. He once served as CEO and counsel for the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, a religious right non-profit that opposes separation of church and state. He has also served as the Director of the DeVos family’s Center for Religion and Civil Society in the Institute for Family, Community, and Opportunity.

He is married to Carrie Severino, president of the Judicial Crisis Network, which spent millions to install President Donald Trump’s extremist judges, including reportedly tens of millions of dollars to help secure Trump’s three Supreme Court nominees.

Written by David Badash, The New Civil Rights Movement. Image via NCRM.

Biden Nomination of Rachel Levine, First Openly Transgender Person for Senate-Confirmed Role, Praised by LGBTQ Orgs

New Civil Rights Movement | January 21, 2021

Topics: Biden administration, Department of Health and Human Services, Joe Biden, LGBTQ Victory Institute, National LGBTQ Task Force, Rachel Levine

President Joe Biden has nominated Pennsylvania Secretary of Health Rachel Levine to become the Assistant Secretary of Health in the Department of Health and Human Services, which will make her the first openly trans presidential cabinet official in United States history.

Incoming President Joe Biden will officially nominate Pennsylvania Secretary of Health Dr. Rachel Levine to become the Assistant Secretary of Health at the Dept. of Health and Human Services. The Biden transition team calls Dr. Levine a “deeply experienced and effective public servant and public health expert,” who is now “poised to become the first openly transgender federal official to be confirmed by the U.S. Senate.”

Dr. Levine, who is also a Professor of Pediatrics and Psychiatry at the Penn State College of Medicine, also previously served as Pennsylvania’s Physician General. She is a Harvard College and Tulane University School of Medicine graduate, and trained at the Mount Sinai Medical Center.

Governor Tom Wolf, a Democrat, nominated Dr. Levine to both Pennsylvania positions, where she was unanimously confirmed.

LGBTQ organizations are praising the choice of Dr. Levine.

“Our nation is fortunate to have Dr. Rachel Levine nominated for a position so important to ending this pandemic and her experience on the frontlines in Pennsylvania will prove invaluable as Assistant Secretary,” said Annise Parker, the former Houston mayor who now serves as President and CEO of the LGBTQ Victory Institute, in a statement. “Her nomination is groundbreaking and shows the Biden administration will choose the most qualified individuals to lead our nation regardless of sexual orientation or gender identity. Dr. Levine is making history and will transform Americans’ perceptions of trans people when she takes office and begins to work on their behalf.”

“Dr. Levine is imminently qualified to serve as assistant secretary at Health and Human Services,” Rea Carey, Executive Director of the National LGBTQ Task Force said in a statement. “Her work in Pennsylvania was exemplary and impactful to the health of all Pennsylvanians. When the National LGBTQ Task Force praised the nomination of Pete Buttigieg as Transportation Secretary, we said it should the ’the first of many firsts,’ and this is exactly what we meant. The appointment of more diverse LGBTQ people at all level of the administration is imperative and that includes trans and non-binary people and people of color. We are thrilled that Dr. Levine has been nominated, especially at HHS, where the LGBTQ community has been under serious attack by the outgoing administration.”

Written by David Badash, The New Civil Rights Movement. Photo via Biden Transition Team.

Pence Brags About Trump Allowing Adoption Agencies ‘Right’ to Ban LGBTQ Parents

New Civil Rights Movement | November 15, 2019

Topics: adoption, anti-LGBTQ discrimination, Department of Health and Human Services, Mike Pence, religious freedom, Roger Severino, Trump administration

“We will stand for the freedom of religion,” Vice President Mike Pence said, defending the Trump administration move to allow adoption agencies to discriminate against same-sex couples.

Vice President Mike Pence this week attended a federal government event during which he bragged about the Trump administration’s latest attack on LGBTQ people. The vice president (video below) heralded a fast-tracked proposed policy from the Dept. of Health and Human Services that would reverse an Obama-era rule barring discrimination by adoption and foster care agencies against LGBTQ people and same-sex couples.

The proposed rollback of that rule is expected to go into effect in just a few weeks, granting government protection to religious, faith-based, or any other adoption organization that wishes to claim a moral opposition to LGBTQ people from facing a loss of federal funding.

“We will stand for the freedom of religion and we will stand with faith-based organizations to support adoption,” Vice President Pence told supporters at an HHS event Tuesday, as he pounded his fists on the podium, to cheers.

“I couldn’t be more proud that at President Trump’s direction and with the strong support of leaders across foster care, adoption, and our faith communities, we’ve taken decisive action,” Pence bragged.

That “decisive action” literally reduces the pool of prospective parents for large numbers of children who don’t have parents or homes.

“More than 100,000 foster children are awaiting adoption, according to government data, but a constellation of religious agencies refuse to consider same-sex parents when placing these children,” NBC News reports. “Shortly before the end of his second term, President Barack Obama changed nondiscrimination rules governing adoption agencies to expand the definition of groups protected against discrimination to include LGBTQ people. Trump’s proposed rule change will undo that.”

In fact, same-sex couples have far higher rates of adopting and fostering children than their different-sex couple peers.

“A 2018 report from the Williams Institute at UCLA School of Law found that 1 in 5 of the estimated 114,000 same-sex couples raising children in the United States are raising adopted or foster children — significantly higher than the 3 percent of heterosexual couples doing so,” reported NBC News.

The latest discriminatory HHS rule Vice President Pence bragged about comes from Roger Severino, HHS’s Director of the Office of Civil Rights. Severino is known as a “radical” anti-LGBTQ religious right activist who previously served as CEO and counsel for the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, a religious right non-profit that opposes separation of church and state. He also once served as the Director of the DeVos family’s Center for Religion and Civil Society in the Institute for Family, Community, and Opportunity.

Written by David Badash, The New Civil Rights Movement. Photo via NCRM. Video via Washington Blade/Facebook. Hat tip: Towleroad

New Regulation Would Strip Federal Protections for LGBTQ People from All HHS Programs in Favor of ‘Religious Freedom’

New Civil Rights Movement | November 6, 2019

Topics: adoption, Department of Health and Human Services, Human Rights Campaign, Lambda Legal, National Center for Transgender Equality, Trump administration

The rule is specifically designed to focus on adoption and foster care, but will affect all federally-funded programs under Department of Health and Human Services control, including those dealing with HIV prevention and youth homelessness.

A proposed new regulation would strip all protections for LGBTQ people from all programs administered by the U.S. Dept. of Health and Human Services, and give special rights to entities or programs that are religious or “faith-based.” HHS, under the direction of Secretary Alex Azar, has a budget of $1.2 trillion affecting the health and well-being, directly or indirectly, of nearly every person in the country.

Lambda Legal says the proposed rule “would invite HHS grantees receiving taxpayer funds to discriminate based on sexual orientation, gender identity, or religion.”

This rule will openly encourage discrimination on the basis of sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, AND religion in *all* HHS programs.

This is taxpayer-funded discrimination. Religion is NOT a #LicenseToDiscriminate.

— Lambda Legal (@LambdaLegal) November 1, 2019

While reportedly drafted to focus on adoption and foster care organizations, the Human Rights Campaign also says the proposed rule would extend far beyond those entities to all programs that receive funding from HHS.

“The Trump-Pence White House has proposed a horrific federal regulation that would permit discrimination across the entire spectrum of HHS programs receiving federal funding,” said HRC President Alphonso David. “This would permit discrimination against LGBTQ people, religious minorities, and women in programs related to foster care, adoption, HIV and STI prevention, youth homelessness, refugee resettlement, elder care programs and more. It is unconscionable that the Trump-Pence administration would prioritize advancing discrimination over the wellbeing of vulnerable people and expect taxpayers to foot the bill for their discriminatory policies. The Trump-Pence White House is relying on the same flawed legal reasoning they’ve used in the past to justify discrimination against LGBTQ people and other communities.”

The Washington Blade, noting the  proposed regulation “will have far-reaching implications,” reports the proposal would “undo an Obama-era policy prohibiting discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation among federal grantees.”

According to  the National Center for Transgender Equality (NCTE) the Blade says “the rule will allow anti-trans discrimination in HIV and STI prevention programs, opioid programs, youth homelessness services, health professional training, substance-use recovery programs and other life-saving services.”

“The proposal seeks to gut an Obama-era rule that barred entities receiving money under federal contracts, including adoption agencies, from discriminating on the basis of sexual orientation.”

HHS is reportedly granting only 30 days for public comment and review.

Written by David Badash, The New Civil Rights Movement. Image via NCRM

New Trump Rule Would Allow Transgender People To Be Denied Health Care

Marilyn Drew Necci | May 28, 2019

Topics: anti-LGBTQ discrimination, Civil Rights Act, Department of Health and Human Services, gender identity, Roger Severino, transgender health care

The attacks from this administration just do not stop.

On Friday, Trump’s Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) proposed a rule that seems calculated to have devastating effects on LGBTQ health care in the United States.

Roger Severino, who is the director of HHS’s Office of Civil Rights — and, probably not coincidentally, a known LGBTQ-rights opponent who has been called a “radical anti-LGBTQ activist” by the Human Rights Campaign — announced that under HHS’s proposed rule, the government would rescind Obama-era guidelines calling for Civil Rights Act protections “on the basis of sex” to be interpreted as applying to gender identity.

“When Congress prohibited sex discrimination, it did so according to the plain meaning of the term, and we are making our regulations conform,” Severino said, according to the Washington Post.

This change mirrors several other changes made by Trump’s cabinet since the 45th President took office, including in the Departments of Education and Justice. It comes only days after a proposed rule by the Department of Housing And Urban Development that would allow homeless shelters to refuse access to transgender people.

US Senator Patty Murray, the ranking Democratic member of the Senate Health, Labor, and Pensions Committee called this decision “blatantly harmful, discriminatory and wrong” in a statement.

“Patients don’t need the ideological judgment of President Trump, Vice President Pence, or anyone else for that matter—they need to know that when they seek the health care they need, they won’t be turned away because of who they are,” Murray stated.

Emilie Kao, director of the DeVos Center For Religion and Civil Society for right-wing think tank The Heritage Foundation, claimed in a statement that this ruling was necessary in order to protect the rights of doctors whose religious beliefs prohibited them from performing gender-reassignment surgeries or abortions.

“The Trump administration is right to revise Obamacare’s unlawful regulation that was blocked from taking effect by a federal court,” Kao stated. “It would have forced physicians to offer sex-reassignment procedures and abortions despite strong ethical and medical concerns.”

However, neither Kao nor the Trump administration has addressed the fact that this change could open the door for doctors to refuse even life-saving health care to a transgender person with critical injuries — as happened in 1995 to Tyra Hunter, a trans woman who’d been injured in a car accident. After discovering Hunter’s transgender status, EMTs and ER staff refused or gave inadequate health care, and Hunter died of her injuries as a result.

“Predicated on little more than prejudice, this proposal will abandon 2 million Americans who already face significant barriers to accessing adequate and life-saving health care,” said Mara Keisling, Executive Director of the National Center for Transgender Equality, in a statement.

“This is not about free health care or special treatment. It’s about the right of every American to be treated with dignity when they walk into an emergency room, meet a new doctor, or find the right insurance plan,” Keisling continued. “If permitted, this rule will promote ignorance and hate that no American should have to face while seeking care, and we are ready to fight it with everything we’ve got.”

Trump Plan Grants Doctors Special Religious Rights to Deny Care to Transgender Patients, Women Seeking Abortions

New Civil Rights Movement | April 29, 2019

Topics: conversion therapy, Department of Health and Human Services, health care, religious freedom, reproductive rights, transgender health care, Trump administration

As if doctor visits didn’t give us enough reason to worry as it is.

The Trump administration is finalizing details on its plan to grant special religious “rights” to medical professionals who claim a moral objection to providing care to transgender patients, or women seeking an abortion, among others.

The new rules would roll back Obama-era protections, according to a report by Politico.

The Trump administration’s so-called “conscience regulations” would extend far beyond those two scenarios.

The proposal, which would directly impact the Dept. of Health and Human Services, “would give HHS ‘a lot more authority and power’ to effectively remake and enforce existing conscience protections, said Katie Keith, a Georgetown University law professor who’s studied the regulations,” Politico notes.

For instance, a medical school receiving federal funds could not deny admission to applicants who refuse to perform abortions; providers could not require staff to inform patients about services like sterilization procedures or advance directives rejecting end-of-life care; and doctors and nurses would gain further protections to refuse providing services like vaccinations.

The forthcoming HHS nondiscrimination rules are the latest example of President Donald Trump violating a campaign pledge to protect the LGBTQ community, advocates for transgender people say. The administration’s ban on transgender troops took effect just weeks ago, and the health department reportedly tried to effectively eliminate the federal definition of “transgender.”

It’s possible the “conscience regulations” might extend to those who practice harmful “reparative” or “conversion” therapy, a pseudoscientific practice falsely purports to turn LGBTQ straight.

Written by David Badash, The New Civil Rights Movement. Image by torbakhopper via Flickr and a CC license

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