The Council of Global Unions (CGU) LGBTI Coordinating Committee observes with great concern that, since the inauguration on January 20th, the Trump Administration has taken a series of dramatic measures, including executive orders set to restrict the freedoms and rights of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex (LGBTI) community in the United States. These measures range from borderline illegal to outright unconstitutional.
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Proposed and already enacted policies aim to overhaul immigration regulations, restrict access to abortion, eliminate climate and environmental justice initiatives and remove LGBTI and diversity protections.
A battery of measures harmful to LGBTI people
A binary definition of sex now applies to all federal records, Identification documents and data collection.
Executive orders outline plans to ban Transgender Americans serving in the armed forces and mandate the forced detransition of Transgender prisoners, removing rights guaranteed under the equality and gender recognition act.
They seek to ban all gender affirming healthcare for those under 19 years old by defunding any institution which can provide it, pulling all funding for any programs affirming people’s gender identity.
The Trump Administration has targeted Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Accessibility (DEIA), restricting government communications and funding programs. There has been censorship across government communications, data collection and funding programs, purging the inclusive language necessary to describe the existence of the LGBTI community. The elimination of federal DEI Programs led to DEI staff placed on immediate leave. Initiatives to protect and empower staff were labelled as “dangerous and immoral” by one of the executive orders.
Seventy-eight Executive Orders signed by former US President Joe Biden have been repealed, including at least a dozen measures which supported racial equity and aimed to combat LGBTI discrimination.
These attacks against sexual and gender diversity and DEI programs have been a long time in the making. Even during the previous federal administration, State lawmakers presented at least 533 anti-LGBTI bills in 2024 alone and 49 have already been signed into law.
Serious attacks on the right to education
Proposed Executive Orders will end LGBTI inclusive education, and the Department of Education itself is at risk of abolishment. There are already attempts to censor academic discussions on gender, race and systemic oppression, threatening to withdraw funding from schools with these topics on their curriculum. This would be a violation of the first amendment.
Supporting social transition of students could be criminalized, preventing schools from treating LGBTI students with the support, dignity and respect that they deserve.
The International labor movement condemns the destructive, dehumanizing, and undemocratic dictates.
The far-right agenda and its harmful rhetoric has been the driving force behind the escalation of sexism, racism, islamophobia, antisemitism, homophobia, transphobia and attacks on the rights of women, migrants and the poor. If the Trump Administration is so explicit in the attacks on marginalized groups and its regressive agenda remains unopposed, it could have a catastrophic impact across the world. The attacks will not stop with these groups. If the freedom of association and right to organize is compromised, it threatens the rights and freedoms of ALL workers.
Solidarity is the foundation on which our movement is built, it is at the heart of all we strive for.
LGBTI workers across the world are being scapegoated in an attempt to distract society from the corruption of the far right. They seek to divide us by weaponizing the economic concerns of workers, promoting fear and hatred of marginalized groups, holding them responsible for the effects of capitalism and its neoliberal policies.
The strength of the trade union movement lies in our ability to stand for any worker facing discrimination, exclusion or exploitation, even if their struggle is different to our own. Our collective struggles are interlinked, it is now more crucial than ever to join forces with progressive allies. From racial justice advocates to migrants and women’s rights organizations and feminist movements, we need to join forces to counteract the current attacks on freedoms, rights and protections of workers who need unions the most. If we are not protecting our most marginalized groups, we leave ourselves completely vulnerable and open to attacks on other groups.
“Trade Unions cannot afford to be complacent about this for a second. We ask our member organizations and local union affiliates to continue to come together in solidarity to resist and challenge attacks from the far right, to unite in rising above the attempts to divide us so we can collectively fight for the social justice and equality every single worker deserves.”
-Michele Kessler, Chair of the CGU LGBTI Committee
An injury to one is an injury to all. Regardless of our differences, we need to continue to stand together to dismantle the structural systems of oppressions embedded in our societies and protect the rights of ALL workers.