The Trump administration said it will not enforce rules set during the Obama administration requiring organizations that get government grants to show they won’t discriminate against people who are gay or transgender.
The rules would apply to organizations that get $500 billion in grants from the Department of Health and Human Services, which includes healthcare services as well as adoption, foster care, and housing for youths and seniors. The agency’s announcement came Friday and applies to rules the Obama administration published in 2016.
The Trump administration issued a separate proposal on Friday, saying that organizations couldn’t be turned down for grants if doing so violates anti-discrimination laws passed by Congress. The laws include discrimination against religious beliefs.
The news was met with backlash from organizations devoted to gay and transgender rights.
“This rule will openly encourage discrimination on the basis of sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, AND religion in *all* HHS programs. This is taxpayer-funded discrimination. Religion is NOT a #LicenseToDiscriminate,” tweeted Lambda Legal.
But the Catholic Association Foundation said the rule would allow faith-based adoption and foster care providers to receive federal money without compromising their beliefs. Organizations had sued against the Obama-era policy, saying the rules violated freedom of speech and the Religious Freedom Restoration Act, and the Trump administration cited the litigation in its decision to change the rules.
“The Trump administration has come through once again in defense of religious freedom,” said Andrea Picciotti-Bayer, legal adviser for the foundation. “The proposed HHS rule frees faith-based adoption and foster care groups participating in programs that receive federal grants from the prior administration’s demand they include sexual orientation as a protected trait under anti-discrimination protections.”
Catholic groups tend to favor placing children in homes with heterosexual couples, and have battled states that have laws saying they cannot turn away homosexual couples. Organizations who wouldn’t comply had to close in Washington, D.C., Illinois, and Massachusetts.
Similar battles are also being waged in Congress. The Democratic-controlled House passed a sweeping bill in May called the Equality Act, which has sweeping protections for gay and transgender people, and would gut religious exemptions for adoption and foster agencies. On the other side of the debate is the Child Welfare Provider and Inclusion Act, which would prohibit states from declining to partner with agencies because of their religious or moral beliefs.
