Majority of Americans Support Pro-LGBTQ Executive Order
President Biden’s recent pro-LGBTQ executive order is his most popular executive order yet.
The market research company Ipsos reported last week that 83 percent of Americans support the executive order prohibiting workplace discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity, according to their survey of 504 adults. Only 16 percent reportedly opposed the new protections, while 2 percent of respondents skipped the question.
The order is a historic move by the Biden administration and was deemed by the Human Rights Campaign as “the most substantive, wide-ranging executive order concerning sexual orientation and gender identity ever issued by a United States president.”
Last year, the Supreme Court case Bostock v. Clayton County protected LGBTQ employees from workplace discrimination, but was largely ignored by the Trump administration. Biden’s order interprets the ruling more broadly, ensuring its extension to the education and health care sectors.
“Children should be able to learn without worrying about whether they will be denied access to the restroom, the locker room, or school sports,” the order declares. “Adults should be able to earn a living and pursue a vocation knowing that they will not be fired, demoted, or mistreated because of whom they go home to or because how they dress does not conform to sex-based stereotypes. People should be able to access healthcare and secure a roof over their heads without being subjected to sex discrimination.”
Although the order faced backlash from TERFs (trans-exclusionary radical feminists) on Twitter and other platforms, it polled higher than all other executive orders signed in Biden’s first week. This support for LGBTQ rights should not necessarily come as a surprise. A 2020 Public Religion Research Institute poll on “American Values” found that 70 percent of Americans supported gay marriage, while 83 percent supported anti-discrimination laws for LGBTQ individuals.
Other popular executive orders include the requirement of mask-wearing and social-distancing on federal property (81 percent in favor), and a government-wide commitment to racial equity and justice (77 percent in favor).
To the LGBTQ community, the order comes as a manifestation of Biden’s promises of bold, pro-queer legislation. In addition to protecting queer people from discrimination, Biden recently repealed the trans military ban after two years of transgender people being unable to serve in the United States military.
Biden’s picks for his cabinet reflect his commitment to representing the LGBTQ community in the government. The nomination of Pete Buttigieg for the Secretary of Transportation means he would be the first openly gay person confirmed to the cabinet, and Rachel Levine, nominated by Biden for assistant health secretary, would become the first openly transgender government official to be confirmed.
