President Joe Biden Revives LGBT Protection From Health Discrimination

Ilustrasi LGBT. (Wikimedia Commons/Silar)

JAKARTA - United States authorities are ensuring gays and transgender people will be protected from gender discrimination in health care, in contrast to previous policies of the previous administration under President Donald Trump

U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services Xavier Becerra said the measure restores protections under a provision of the Affordable Care Act, also known as 'Obamacare', against sexual discrimination in health care. It was the latest in a series of steps President Joe Biden has taken to support LGBT rights.

"It just says what everyone should know, you shouldn't discriminate against people," Becerra told CNN as reported by Reuters on Tuesday, May 11.

"That includes those based on sexual orientation or gender identity and when it comes to health care, we want to make sure that's the case," she continued.

The new policy is a reversal of President Donald Trump's June 2020-era policy, issuing a rule that repeals some anti-discrimination protections under the Affordable Care Act, legislation signed by former President Barack Obama in 2010.

In 2016, the Obama administration introduced a rule explaining that LGBT people would be protected under federal health care discrimination provisions. The Donald Trump-era rule reversed a law that expanded civil rights protections in health care to cover a variety of areas, including gender identity and abortion.

"So now it's clear, there's no ambiguity. You can't discriminate against people based on sexual orientation or gender identity," Becerra added.

HHS said in a statement its Civil Rights Office made a decision in connection with the U.S. Supreme Court's June 2020 ruling and subsequent court decisions. Last year's Supreme Court delivered a landmark victory for LGBT rights and a defeat for the Trump administration, which ruled that longstanding federal laws prohibit discrimination in the workplace, protecting gay and transgender employees.

"The Supreme Court has made it clear that people have the right not to be discriminated against on the basis of gender and receive equal treatment under the law, no matter their gender identity or sexual orientation," Becerra said in a statement.

Separately, U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi praised the administration's move and called Trump's LGBT policies amid the coronavirus pandemic, an unreasonable and shocking act of cruelty.

The issue of transgender rights has become a flashpoint in the United States' culture war, with Republicans at the state level pursuing measures targeting transgender people. Such bills have been introduced in about 28 states so far this year, according to advocacy group the Southern Poverty Law Center.

"With health care for transgender youth being attacked by state legislatures, measures to protect LGBTQ people from discrimination in health care are critical," the American Civil Liberties Union said.

"It is unfortunate that clear steps must be taken. The AMA welcomes this reasonable legal understanding," added American Medical Association (AMA) President Susan Bailey.

President Joe Biden, who has been in office since January 20, is seeking to overturn another Trump policy restricting American LGBT rights.

For example, rescinding his Republican predecessor's ban on transgender people serving in the U.S. military, issuing executive orders expanding existing federal nondiscrimination protections to LGBT people and issuing a presidential memorandum, aimed at expanding the protection of the rights of LGBT people around the world.