When Obama signed Executive Order 13672 on July 21, 2014, he said, "It doesn't make much sense, but today in America, millions of our fellow citizens wake up and go to work with the awareness that they could lose their job, not because of anything they do or fail to do, but because of who they are - lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender. "President Trump continues to be respectful and supportive of LGBTQ rights, just as he was throughout the election," it said. "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 is determined to protect the rights of all Americans, including the LGBTQ community," reads a statement released by the White House press office Jan. President Donald Trump has pledged to continue to enforce an executive order issued by President Barack Obama in 2014 that prohibits federal government contractors from discrimination based on "sexual orientation" and "gender identity" and forbidding "gender identity" discrimination in the employment of federal employees. (Photo courtesy of Reuters/Carlo Allegri) One of the most prominent gay members of President Donald Trump's administration is Richard Grenell, the US ambassador to Germany.Ī former commentator on Fox News, Grenell said he enjoyed the support of Trump and Vice President Mike Pence, another evangelical, for a US-led campaign to end persecution of gay people - an initiative that notably criticizes US arch-rival Iran.Donald Trump holds up a rainbow flag with "LGBTs for TRUMP" written on it at a campaign rally in Greeley, Colo., on Oct. The US embassy in New Delhi was lit up in the rainbow colors as a sign of solidarity in a country where the Supreme Court last year overturned a colonial-era ban on gay sex. I am demanding the Trump admin explain this hate," he tweeted.Ĭhad Griffin, head of the Human Rights Campaign, the lead US gay rights group, said that the flag order "sends a chilling message not only to LGBTQ people in this country, but around the globe."Ī number of US embassies have already highlighted their celebrations of Pride Month. "As we celebrate Pride Month, this decision must be reversed. "At a time when LGBTQ+ communities around the world face persecution, this Trump decision is a blatant attack on LGBTI rights," said Senator Ed Markey, a Democrat from Massachusetts. News of Pompeo's orders, first reported last week by NBC News, provoked outrage among advocates of gay rights. The previous administration of president Barack Obama, an advocate of gay rights equality, let US embassies fly the pride flag without no questions asked and even lit up the White House in the rainbow colors when the Supreme Court legalized same-sex marriage nationwide in 2015. "Pride month, that we're in right now, was celebrated around the world by many State Department employees," she said.
TRUMP HOLDS UP GAY FLAG FREE
"The secretary has the position that, as it relates to the flagpole, that only the American flag should be flown there," State Department spokeswoman Morgan Ortagus told reporters.īut she said that US diplomats overseas were free to display rainbows flags elsewhere at embassies in June - Pride Month, with this year marking the 50th anniversary of New York's Stonewall uprising that sparked the modern gay rights movement.
Pompeo, an evangelical Christian, has said that he defines marriage as a union between a man and a woman but has also said he respects employees regardless of sexual orientation. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has barred US embassies from flying the rainbow flag of the gay pride movement on flagpoles, the State Department confirmed Monday after criticism.