Administration, EEOC, and courts limit workers’ gender identity protections

Beginning with President Trump’s Executive Order (EO) 14168, Defending Women From Gender Ideology Extremism and Restoring Biological Truth To The Federal Government, the Trump administration has made clear it will recognize only two biological sexes and has been erasing policies, practices, and procedures that acknowledge or support gender identity or transgender individuals.

EEOC position on trans bias

The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) Acting Chair Andrea Lucas immediately responded to the EO by issuing her press release, Removing Gender Ideology and Restoring the EEOC’s Role of Protecting Women in the Workplace, in which she stated that she removed the agency’s pronoun app, ended the use of the X gender marker for intakes, directed the removal of the gender-neutral “Mx,” and removed materials she claimed promoted “gender ideology” on the commission’s internal and external websites. She withdrew the EEOC from litigation involving discrimination against trans individuals and cut funding to state and local agencies handling trans discrimination cases for EEOC.

The commission initially stalled processing of trans charges but now is apparently limiting transgender bias focus to allegations involving hiring, firing, or promotion. The EEOC will have a quorum once Brittany Panuccio is confirmed. At that point Lucas will revise the EEOC’s harassment guidance to eliminate reference to harassment based on trans status such as “misgendering” and requiring employers to allow use of bathrooms or changing rooms based on current gender to comply with a recent court decision.