Oh, y’all thought a pandemic was going to stop the President from being trash? Nah, b.
NBC News reports that a lawsuit filed Thursday against the Department of Health and Human Services(HHS) alleges that a proposal to stop enforcing Obama-era nondiscrimination protections for LGBTQ people is against the law. The proposal would allow the HHS to give federal funding to organizations even if they refuse to provide care for LGBTQ people due to “religious beliefs.” The money often goes to shelters, foster care, food services and eldercare.
There is concern that the exclusionary policies will prevent LGBTQ youth and elderly people from getting the assistance they need during the ongoing crisis. This is just another move in the Trump administration’s ongoing battle against everyone who’s not a straight white dude. While HHS has yet to comment on the lawsuit, it did issue a statement when the change was first introduced.
From NBC News:
In its November statement regarding the notice of nonenforcement, the department said it is “committed to fully enforcing the civil rights laws passed by Congress” and stated that this proposal would “better align” HHS grant regulations with “federal statutes, eliminating regulatory burden, including burden on the free exercise of religion.”
You would think that in the time of crisis being bigoted would be put on the back burner while we try to fix this but yeah...nah. If it’s not folks being inexplicably racist to Asian-Americans, it’s the government allowing some of our most vulnerable left to hang because they simply love differently from them. This is the time for us to put aside all that petty bullshit and just be there for one another. It’s simply the right thing to do.
Granted, this is the Trump administration. If they knew how to do the right thing, we probably wouldn’t be almost a week deep into quarantine starting Twin Peaks in an effort to understand white people. I’m still at a loss.