The White House announced yesterday that President Donald Trump will continue to enforce his predecessor’s 2014 executive order requiring all companies who contract with the federal government not to discriminate on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity (Obama’s order extended non-discrimination orders enacted by previous presidents based on race, color, religion, sex, and national origin).
Here’s Trump’s announcement:
Gay rights advocates have expressed concerns that Trump could roll back protections in other ways (Trump could, for example, essentially undo this order by creating a separate order giving federal contractors a religious exemption for discrimination). Chad Griffin, president of the Human Rights Campaign told the New York Times that merely continuing the actions of his predecessor was a low bar for success:
L.G.B.T.Q. refugees, immigrants, Muslims and women are scared today, and with good reason. Donald Trump has done nothing but undermine equality since he set foot in the White House.
Be that as it may, given the extent to which Trump is aiming to reverse Obama regulations broadly, this stands as a small piece of good news.
My question: Some Arkansas Republican lawmakers viewed this order as tyranny when Obama enacted it. Do they still think so now that it’s Donald J. Trump?