Hate Still Rear Its Ugly Head

Even with all the good election news about trans candidates winning across the country, the Trump administration is still on its anti-LGBT campaign to eradicate us.

USDA issues ‘religious advisory’ that okays anti-LGBTQ speech by employees
LGBTQ Nation
By Bil Browning
November 7, 2017

The United States Department of Agriculture has posted a “religious advisory” on their website that amounts to a blatant license to discriminate against LGBTQ people. In fact, it’s so specific the only topics specifically mentioned in the memo are “same-sex marriage, gender identity, and sexual morality.”

The Trump administration has systematically tried to destroy nondiscrimination protections for LGBTQ people throughout the government. Within hours of his inauguration, websites were being scrubbed of all mentions of LGBTQ rights.

The website’s Q&A about “First Amendment and Religious Beliefs” asks the question, “Does the Secretary’s First Amendment Policy encompass speech regarding same-sex marriage, gender identity, and sexual morality?”

Opinions about same-sex marriage, gender identity, and sexual morality are all matters of public importance. Moreover, people often have different perspectives on these topics, which are sometimes informed by their religious beliefs, and feel the need to discuss them. USDA respects the First Amendment rights of USDA personnel, as well as non-USDA personnel working at facilities inspected by USDA, to share their varying viewpoints on these topics, whether through oral discussion, the display or distribution of literature, or other means.

The Supreme Court is going to be hearing a case on Religious Freedom; the Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Purdue  has  not based the statement on legal opinions but on the religious bias of the USDA Secretary.