A senior Trump administration official
on Monday said that President Donald Trump is opposed to the Equality
Act.
“The Trump administration absolutely
opposes discrimination of any kind and supports the equal treatment
of all; however, this bill in its current form is filled with poison
pills that threaten to undermine parental and conscience rights,”
the official said in a statement given to the
Washington
Blade.
The Equality Act seeks to prohibit
discrimination against people who identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual
and transgender in key areas such as employment, housing,
federally-funded programs, and public accommodations.
The legislation cleared a pivotal House
committee earlier this month and the full House is expected to vote
on the Equality Act on Friday.
In a 2000 interview with LGBT glossy
The Advocate, Trump said that he favored legislation that
prohibits discrimination based on sexual orientation.
“I like the idea of amending the 1964
Civil Rights Act to include a ban of discrimination based on sexual
orientation,” Trump
said. “It would be simple. It would be straightforward. We
don’t need to rewrite the laws currently on the books, although I
do think we need to address hate-crimes legislation. But amending the
Civil Rights Act would grant the same protection to gay people that
we give to other Americans – it's only fair.”
During the 2016 election, Trump claimed
that he would be a better “friend” to the LGBT community than
Hillary Clinton, his Democratic rival. Instead, the president has
dismantled Obama-era policies allowing transgender individuals to
serve openly in the military and transgender students to use the
bathroom of their choice. He's also undermined LGBT rights under the
guise of protecting “religious freedom.”