The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) — an independent agency that administers $27 billion in foreign-aid programs, including development, poverty and disaster relief — has removed all references of LGBTQ people, contraception and gender identity (an inclusive term acknowledging transgender people) from its revised draft of its Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment Policy.

The 2012 version of the policy included these mentions, but the erasure is just the latest move from the Trump Administration in continually erasing LGBTQ people and reproductive rights from U.S. policy.

The revised draft removes all of the 2012 version’s mentions of gender identity which had been defined in the document as “an individual’s internal, personal sense of being male or female” isn’t necessarily determined by biological and physiological features.

The 2012 version also explicitly mentioned LGBTQ people in lists of organizations that USAID should partner with, types of people specifically targeted for discrimination, and forms of gender-based violence that concern USAID. All those explicit mentions have since been erased.

LGBTQ Nation notes:

The 2012 policy lists several factors that can further marginalize people, and it includes sexual orientation, gender identity, HIV status, as well as ethnicity, disability, and lack of income. The 2020 policy only mentions “those who face discrimination” without expanding on who, exactly, could face discrimination.

ProPublica mentioned the revised draft removed several references to contraception used in the 2012 version as well.

Timothy Meisburger — USAID’s director of the Center of Excellence on Democracy, Human Rights, and Governance — wrote that the staff’s duty is to “faithfully execute the policy of the current Administration.” Considering that the Trump Administration has doggedly pursued policies that target trans people and LGBTQ rights, the erasure of our community from the government documents should come as little surprise even though it’s totally disappointing.

People around the world are targeted for violence and harassment for not conforming to their perceived sex or gender, but now USAID won’t be directed to specifically help such people, leaving them subject to discrimination while the U.S. focuses its efforts elsewhere.

In June, Trump appointed Merritt Corrigan to serve as deputy White House liaison at the USAID even though she had written tweets and articles declaring that a “homo-empire” was driving the U.S. and other countries towards a “tyrannical LGBT agenda.” She was subsequently fired, but only after USAID condemned news outlets for reporting about what she had written.

There is little news coming out of Tuesday morning’s Supreme Court oral arguments in three cases that will determine if LGBTQ people have equal rights or can be fired merely for being LGBTQ. But a surprise remark is giving some LGBTQ people a drop of hope. Conservative Justice Neil Gorsuch has at the very least given the appearance he just might understand that anti-gay discrimination is sex discrimination.

“First half of Scotus LGBT job-bias case suggests that gay-rights advocates have a least a chance of winning over Gorsuch (+ the four liberals),” tweets Bloomberg News Supreme Court reporter Greg Stohr. He sums up Gorsuch’s seemingly positive remark in this tweet:

Gorsuch says that when a person is fired because of sexual orientation, that person’s sex is at least a “contributing cause.”

— Greg Stohr (@GregStohr) October 8, 2019

At issue right now is Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, and if its stated ban on sex discrimination includes lesbian, gay, and bisexual people (the second hour of oral arguments focus on transgender workers’ rights).

But Gorsuch’s remark is deeper than what it says at face value.

Related: The Supreme Court Is Debating if LGBTQ People Can Be Fired for Being LGBTQ – Here’s What It Looks Like Outside

Southern Methodist University Law School Professor Grant Hayden, who focuses on employment law, explains that it’s not an all-or-nothing issue. And he says if Gorsuch believes what he reportedly said, “that should be the ballgame” – presumably, a win for gay rights.

If Gorsuch believes this, that should be the ballgame. 🤞🏻
Title VII’s statutory language clearly prohibits conduct where sex was “a motivating factor,” even if other factors also contributed to the decision. https://t.co/Pb4IutPLMq

— Grant Hayden (@GrantMHayden) October 8, 2019

Hayden says his legal view is that sexual orientation and transgender discrimination “is necessarily sex discrimination in violation of Title VII.”

Of course, no one know what will happen until the decision is handed down, presumably in June of 2020, but a glimmer of hope is better than none at all.

UPDATE: 12:59 PM ET –
MSNBC’s Pete Williams concurs that Gorsuch’s remarks may be the “best hope” for LGBTQ people.

Image via Wikimedia