President Joe Biden signed an Executive Order on Wednesday to “advance LGBTQI+ equality.”
The White House said Biden “has the back” of LGBTQI+ people across the country and that is why he is taking “bold actions and continuing to fight for full equality.”
Biden is urging Congress to pass the radical Equality Act.
Biden’s Executive Order addresses what the White House calls discriminatory legislative attacks against LGBTQI+ children and families, prevents conversion therapy with “a historic initiative,” safeguards health care and programs designed to prevent youth suicide, launches a new initiative to protect foster youth, prevent homelessness and improve access to federal programs and also takes additional steps to “advance LGBTQI+ equality.”
The White House said more than 300 “anti-LGBTQI+” laws were introduced in state legislatures the past year with many “specifically targeting transgender children and their parents by banning access to medical care and support at school.”
Biden is charging the Department of Health and Human Services to “protect” LGBTQI+ children nd families from attacks on access to health care and instructed HHS to release new sample policies for states on how to expand access to comprehensive health care for LGBTQI+ patients. The Department of Education is also tasked with addressing the impacts of state laws targeting LGBTQI+ students and will release a sample school policy for achieving “full inclusion” for LGBTQI+ students.
HHS will lead an initiative to “reduce the risk of youth exposure” to conversion therapy. HHS will also “increase public awareness about its harms, provide training nd technical assistance to health care providers and expand support for services to help survivors.”
The Federal Trade Commission is encouraged by Biden to consider whether conversion therapy constitutes an unfair or deceptive act or practice and whether consumer warnings or notices should be issued.
