Biden’s Executive Order combats discrimination against LGBTQ+ community

Within hours of his inauguration on January 20, 2021, President Joe Biden signed an Executive Order (EO) on “Preventing and Combating Discrimination on the Basis of Gender Identity or Sexual Orientation.” The order establishes the new administration’s policy prohibiting discrimination based on gender identity and sexual orientation and directs federal agencies to take affirmative steps to secure the rights.

How we got here

President Biden’s EO commits to enforcing the holding of Bostock v. Clayton County throughout all federal agencies. In Bostock, the U.S. Supreme Court found the prohibition on discrimination “because of . . . sex” in Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 covers bias based on gender identity and sexual orientation.

After Bostock was decided, several federal agencies, including the U.S. Department of Education (DOE) in interpreting Title IX of the Education Amendments Act of 1972, sought to distinguish Title VII in an effort to avoid applying the Court’s ruling to certain controversial matters, such as sex-separated bathrooms, locker rooms, and athletic teams. Under the previous administration, the DOE refused to recognize Bostock’s applicability to those kinds of situations.

What new EO covers