• Jan 19 — In anticipation of Inauguration and the Women’s March, hundreds of LGBTQ activists participated in queer dance parties outside the homes of Mike Pence and Ivanka Trump.
• Jan 20 — All mentions of LGBTQ rights and history were scrubbed from Executive Branch websites.
• Feb 10 — Immediately after Sessions was sworn-in DOJ lawyers dropped a nationwide injunction against the Obama administration’s view that existing civil rights legislation applies to gender identity.
• Feb 10 — White House reverses Obama-Era transgender bathroom protections, setting the stage for dozens of anti-trans bills nationwide. Related: How a single law firm, Alliance Defending Freedom, is funding “bathroom bills” dozens of states. https://www.nbcnews.com/feature/nbc-out/law-firm-linked-anti-transgender-bathroom-bills-across-country-n741106
• Mar 4 — Trump signed an Executive Order rolling back protections barring federal contractors from discriminating against employees on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity.
• Mar 10 — South Dakota Gov. Dennis Daugaard signed a bill granting publicly funded adoption agencies to discriminate on the basis of “any sincerely-held religious belief or moral conviction.”
• Mar 20 — Sexual orientation and gender identity categories were removed from the 2020 Census, losing a vital tool in understanding the basic descriptive data on the size and characteristics of the LGBTQ population.
• Mar 20 — Kentucky Gov. Matt Bevin signs a religious freedom bill that would allow students to exclude LGBTQ classmates from campus groups.
• April 18 — Chechen President Ramzan Kadyrov denied the purge of gay men and defended the rights of families to murder their gay relatives. Nikki Haley released statement saying, “If true, this violation of human rights cannot be ignored.” This was the only response from the Executive Branch.
• May 3 — Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey signed a bill making it legal for private faith-based adoption agencies to turn away gay couples.
• May 24 — DeVos told the House Appropriations subcommittee that schools should not risk losing federal funds if they discriminate against LGBTQ students and families.
• May 24 — HUD revoked a rule ensuring that transgender people can stay at sex-segregated shelters of their choice and removes online training materials with best practices for trans equity. ⚧
• May 29 — HHS removed questions about sexual orientation from surveys of elderly Americans, another attempt to render our issues invisible.
• Jun 1 — The White House made no mention of LGBTQ Pride Month for the first time in 8 years.
• Jun 1 — Ivanka wished us a joyful #Pride2017 and LGBTQ Twitter exploded.
• Jun 2 — In the wake of the Trump administration’s decision to pull out of the Paris climate accord, local and state leaders signed a “climate mayors” pledge, vowing to take action into their own hands. Salt Lake City Mayor Jackie Biskupski, Long Beach, California, Mayor Robert Garcia, and Santa Fe, New Mexico, Mayor Javier Gonzales were at the helm of the campaign. https://victoryfund.org/lgbtq-mayors-denounce-trumps-climate-deal-decision/
• Jun 6 — Texas Gov. Greg Abbott signed a bill that allows faith-based groups working with the Texas child welfare system to deny services “under circumstances that conflict with the provider’s sincerely held religious beliefs” even if they’re publicly funded.
• Jun 11 — National LGBTQ Organizations and grassroots activists came together for the Equality March for Unity & Pride – the largest LGBTQ march on Washington to date.
Photo courtesy of Ted Eytan
• Jun 16 — DeVos announced DOE is “not going to be issuing any decrees on civil rights” and scaled back civil rights investigations at public schools and universities, including protections for sexual assault victims and transgender students. ⚧
• Jun 22 — A court in Mississippi lifted an injunction on a state anti-gay law, freeing individuals and government employees the ability to discriminate against gay and transgender people on religious grounds. ⚧
• Jul 11 — Sessions delivered off camera remarks to Alliance Defending Freedom, a theocratic hate group that promotes reparative therapy.
• Jul 26 — Trump tweeted that the U.S. Government will not allow “Transgender individuals to serve in any capacity in the U.S. Military”. ⚧
• The DOJ filed a brief saying that Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 does not cover LGBTQ employment discrimination. (Jul 27)
• Jul 26 — Maxine Waters reclaimed her time. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tqCZzs7UXIo
• Aug 9 — Six transgender troops sued Trump over his tweet to instate a transgender military ban. As of today, the soldiers have disclosed that their medical treatments have been canceled and their careers are being derailed. ⚧?️
• Aug 9 — HUD cancels a survey to study and reduce LGBTQ homelessness.
• Aug 9 — The NYC Anti-Violence Project, which tracks LGBTQ hate crimes nationwide, released a report detailing the spike anti-LGBTQ violence since Trump took office, noting that a gay or trans person is killed about once every 13 days in 2017. ⚧
• Aug 25 — Trump issued a directive banning DoD from paying for medical treatment regimens for transgender individuals currently serving in the military. It’s worth remembering that nearly 13,000 trans soldiers deserve basic health care, as we all do, and that the military spends 10x more on viagra than trans health services. Let us not discuss the financial burden of constant Mar-a-Lago trips at the sole benefit a single draft dodger. ⚧
• Sep 13 — Trump nominated Eric Dreiband to lead the DOJ’s Civil Rights Division, a man who testified against the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act and represented UNC in banning transgender people from using the bathroom. ⚧
• Sep 20 — Trump nominated Jeff Mateer for a federal judgeship in Texas, a man who promotes conversion therapy and said transgender children are evidence of “Satan’s plan”. ⚧
California State Assembly votes to decriminalize HIV https://victoryfund.org/california-state-assembly-votes-decriminalize-hiv/
• Oct 6 — Sessions issued a memo instructing federal agencies that “religious observance and practice should be reasonably accommodated in all government activity, including employment, contracting and programming.”
• Oct 9 — HHS withdrew a proposed rule put forth in December 2014 to assure that same-sex spouses are treated equally in long-term care facilities that receive Medicare and Medicaid funds.
• Oct 9 — Oct 17 https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2017/10/17/trump-mocked-pence-joked-about-him-wanting-to-hang-gays-new-yorker-profile
The New Yorker reported on Pence’s extremism on social issues. In a meeting, when the discussion turned to LGBT rights, Trump pointed at Pence and said: “Don’t ask that guy — he wants to hang them all!”
• Oct 12 — On Friday, Trump addressed the Value Voters Summit hosted by the Family Research Council, which has been classified by SPLC as an anti-gay hate group. Trump is the first US leader to address the group.
• Oct 30 — A federal judge temporarily blocked parts of Trump’s memo banning transgender people from the military, ruling it was based on “disapproval of transgender people generally.” ⚧
• Nov 7 — LGBTQ candidates swept in races across the country:
• In 2017, 9 openly transgender people were elected to public office, effectively doubling trans representation nationwide.
• Jenny Durkan became the first lesbian mayor of Seattle and the city’s first female mayor since the 1920s.
• Allison Ikley-Freeman became the first openly LGBTQ person ever elected in Tulsa County, in a district that went for Trump by 40 points.
• Palm Springs, California elected an all-LGBT city council for the first time in U.S. history.
On Tuesday, a second federal judge ruled against Trump’s transgender military ban, halting the ban and saying active-duty service members are “already suffering harmful consequences.” ⚧
• Dec 1 — On Thursday, Trump wrote a proclamation to commemorate World AIDS Day on December 1. Noticeably absent were any references to communities most at risk, including LGBTQ people and people of color
• Dec 15 — WAPO reported at a CDC meeting on Thursday, policy analysts were given a list of seven forbidden words: “vulnerable,” “entitlement,” “diversity,” “transgender,” “fetus,” “evidence-based,” and “science-based.” The seven words are used in many ways in the CDC’s work, for example on ways to prevent HIV among transgender people or birth defects caused by the Zika virus which includes research on the developing fetus. ⚧
• Dec 18 — Trump’s HHS defended its decision to hide public comments on a proposal that could affect access to abortion and care for transgender patients. HHS received 10,729 comments on its proposal and has only posted 80 so far. Sources say the HHS hand-picked the 80 comments posted, and almost all of them back the Trump regime’s policies or attack regulations advanced by the Obama administration. The move could lead to legal challenges. ⚧
• Dec 21 — On Thursday, a federal court denied the Trump regime’s efforts to delay accepting transgender recruits into the military. Three judges have ruled the ban cannot go into effect while the case works through the courts. ⚧
• Dec 21 — Dec 29 – summarily fires PACHA
• Dec 21 —US vice-president Mike Pence greeted by ‘Make America Gay Again’ sign
