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Trump Strips LGBT People of Workplace Protections, Then Erases Them from Census

This week, President Trump quietly nullified an order that required companies receiving large federal contracts to show that they have complied with various federal laws, many of which relate to discrimination in the workplace.

Below is what happened on Trump's 47th day in office. You can find out what damage was done every other day so far on the Saddest Calendar on the Internet.

Not even two weeks after the US Department of Health and Human Services eliminated questions about LGBT people on two crucial national surveys on the elderly and the disabled, the Trump administration extended their erasure of LGBT Americans yesterday when they announced they would not include the option to declare sexual orientation and gender identity on the 2020 US Census. Earlier in the morning, LGBT advocates thought they had a triumph, as the Census Bureau released a list of proposed subjects for 2020 that included questions relating to the above, which were new additions that LGBT rights advocates have been pushing for. But then the Census Bureau made a follow-up announcement.

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"The Subjects Planned for the 2020 Census and American Community Survey report released today inadvertently listed sexual orientation and gender identity as a proposed topic in the appendix," the Census Bureau said in a statement. "This topic is not being proposed to Congress for the 2020 Census or American Community Survey."

The mistake was more than just a gaffe, as advocates have been stressing the need for the Census to acknowledge the gender and sexuality of those from whom its collecting data to ensure that LGBT people are getting equal access to the rights and protections granted to heterosexual and cisgender individuals. In a statement from the National LGBTQ Task Force, Criminal and Economic Justice Project Director Meghan Maury expressed her organization's disappointment.

Today, the Trump Administration has taken yet another step to deny LGBTQ people freedom, justice, and equity

"Today, the Trump Administration has taken yet another step to deny LGBTQ people freedom, justice, and equity, by choosing to exclude us from the 2020 Census and American Community Survey," Maury said. "Information from these surveys helps the government to enforce federal laws like the Violence Against Women Act and the Fair Housing Act and to determine how to allocate resources like housing supports and food stamps."

This erasure follows one of Trump's new directives that actively discriminates against LGBT individuals: the revocation of the Executive Order 13673 or the Fair Pay and Safe Workplaces Order. A rollover from Obama's presidency, the order required companies receiving large federal contracts to show that they have complied for at least three years with 14 federal laws, many of which relate to workplace discrimination. This also undermines an executive order that Obama simultaneously issued that made it illegal for contractors to discriminate based on gender identity or sexual orientation.

Nullifying Executive Order 13673 also means that federal contractors won't have to prove that they complied with the Americans with Disabilities Act, the Rehabilitation Act, the Family and Medical Leave Act, or Title VII of the Civil Rights Act, according to New Now Next.