By Sally Jane Black
Nearly a year ago, a leaked memo revealed that the Trump administration was trying to reinterpret Title VII in order to allow discrimination against LGBTQ people. The flimsy policy that included LGBTQ people under “sex” in Title VII (the law that protects against job discrimination on basis of gender, race, etc.) was established under the Obama administration as an effort to buy LGBTQ votes without effecting any change. With no real protections in place, it has taken almost no effort for the current administration to reverse almost every gain LGBTQ people have made.
The unelected, notoriously bigoted Supreme Court will be deciding on three cases this October that will determine whether this legalization of discrimination will be upheld, endangering millions of people’s jobs, insurance, and well being. Trump’s Department of “Justice” has aggressively fought for the reinterpretation, often using the argument of “religious freedom” to mask their dangerous homophobia and transphobia.
“RELIGIOUS FREEDOM”
The use of “religious freedom” as justification for these policies is not an attempt to protect anyone but to divide the working class against LGBTQ people. The capitalist class knows that if they claim that this is a matter of religion, LGBTQ people and allies will blame religion for these attacks instead of the real enemy: the rich, powerful capitalists that benefit from our oppression. Meanwhile, the capitalists are pandering to workers who are religious, hoping to incite them against the cause for LGBTQ equality.
RISE IN VIOLENCE
It is no coincidence that Louisiana candidates for governor are insulting trans people in campaign ads, or that celebrities like Drew Brees are avoiding consequences for working with anti-LGBTQ hate groups like Focus on the Family; the capitalist class is funding the complete reversal of every right won by LGBTQ people. This has also served as an open call to violence against queer and trans people. Hate crimes are at a record high. So far this year, 20 trans people—almost all black trans women—have been murdered, including one killed in an ICE concentration camp. As with every marginalized group, when our rights are under attack, our safety is threatened as well.
SECOND CLASS CITIZENS
The past year has seen attacks on LGBTQ people on every front: housing, healthcare, emergency shelter, education, and more. The attack on Title VII is at the heart of this. Allowing job discrimination against queer and trans people would effectively cut us off from everything needed to survive. By legalizing job discrimination and ramping up anti-queer and anti-trans bigotry, the ruling class is making sure that unemployment remains high enough to weaken the working class.
FIGHTING BACK
Resistance is growing. Although the mainstream LGBTQ rights movement has been co-opted by corporate interests and nonprofits, in June people around the country honored the 50th anniversary of Stonewall with militant, anti-corporate, anti-cop actions at Pride events, often opposing the nonprofit boards that erased the militant politics of the original Pride marches. LGBTQ people have won victories for trans healthcare in Wisconsin, and an immigrant trans woman, Alejandra Barrera, has won her freedom from an ICE concentration camp. In September, activists in New Orleans held a march protesting the anti-trans Crimes Against Nature in Solicitation law during the corporate-funded Southern Decadence.
LGBTQ people should be protected against discrimination and violence, not forced to be second class citizens. Only militant action will win us our rights and protect us from these attacks. We must resist every attempt by the capitalist class to divide us against one another. It is only through unity and working class solidarity that we will liberate ourselves from the oppressive rule of the capitalists.