A Policy Protecting Transgender Workers From Discrimination Was Just Reversed by Jeff Sessions

Updated to include a statement provided to POPSUGAR by the DNC.

Attorney General Jeff Sessions reversed a major Obama-era policy change on Oct. 5, one that extended the Civil Rights Act to protect transgender employees from discrimination in the workplace. Sessions, who has a well-documented history of racism, has spent much of his tenure at the DOJ attempting to erase any and all progressive policy that would make for a more equitable set of civil rights in America.

The directive was obtained by BuzzFeed News and explicitly addresses Title VII, the section of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 that deals with discrimination on the basis of an individual's sex. "Title VII's prohibition on sex discrimination encompasses discrimination between men and women," the memo reads, "but does not encompass discrimination based on gender identity per se, including transgender status."

Former Attorney General Eric Holder initially amended Title VII in 2014, issuing a memo to all Department of Justice employees and US attorneys that put forth a more nuanced interpretation of the half-century-old law. " . . . the department will no longer assert that Title VII's prohibition against discrimination based on sex excludes discrimination based on gender identity per se including transgender discrimination, reversing a previous Department of Justice position," a press release sent by Obama's DOJ reads, adding, "Title VII makes it unlawful for employers to discriminate in the employment of an individual 'because of such individual's . . . sex,' among other protected characteristics."

Sessions, however, asserts that it's on the Justice Department – not any previous guidance – to interpret the law "as written by congress" and therefore the administration has no responsibility to enforce protections on a nuance such as gender identity. In a statement given to The Hill, the ACLU slammed the decision to rescind such basic civil rights in yet another hostile move toward the LGBTQ+ community.

"Today marks another low point for a Department of Justice, which has been cruelly consistent in its hostility towards the LGBT community and in particular its inability to treat transgender people with basic dignity and respect," the statement said. "Discrimination against transgender people is sex discrimination, just as DOJ recognized years ago. We are confident that the courts will continue to agree and will reject the politically driven decision by Attorney General Sessions."

In a statement provided to POPSUGAR, DNC spokesperson Joel Kasnetz also condemned the move. "This week, Jeff Sessions escalated the Trump administration's war on LGBTQ people. By reinterpreting our employment laws to try to stop protecting transgender people from discrimination, Donald Trump, Mike Pence, and Jeff Sessions have revealed their real goal – turn the clock back to a time when life was even more difficult for LGBTQ people, transgender individuals in particular," Kasnetz wrote. "Fortunately, the courts have rebuked this bigotry and made clear that LGBTQ Americans have the right to be free from discrimination in the workplace. It's time for Congress to do the same, because Attorney General Sessions can't be trusted to protect us or our civil rights. Democrats support the right of LGBTQ people to live and work without fear and demand Sessions stop using the Department of Justice to further this administration's divisive agenda."