In a major reversal of Trump-era legal policies the U.S. Dept. of Justice has issued a memo declaring that LGBTQ students are protected from discrimination under Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972, which prohibits sex-based discrimination in schools.

It is a major win for some of the nation’s most vulnerable people, and an interesting twist for the history books.

The memo, dated March 26 but just reported today by The Hill and Law & Crime, was authored by the same attorney who argued part of a major LGBTQ case before the U.S. Supreme Court, and won. That case paved the way for this new memo.

Pamela Karlan (photo) in 2019 argued in the landmark Bostock case, telling the Court in no uncertain terms: “When an employer fires a male employee for dating men but does not fire female employees who date men, he violates Title VII. The employer has…discriminated against the man because he treats that man worse than women who want to do the same thing. And that discrimination is because of sex.”

The Court ruled 6-3 that anti-LGBTQ discrimination is sex discrimination and therefore illegal.

“After considering the text of Title IX, Supreme Court caselaw, and developing jurisprudence in this area, the Division has determined that the best reading of Title IX’s prohibition on discrimination ‘on the basis of sex’ is that it includes discrimination on the basis of gender identity and sexual orientation,” wrote Karlan, who now serves as the Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Rights Division of the DOJ.

Karlan’s memo, along with a broader Biden executive order, reverses a Trump executive order specifically stating that the Bostock ruling was to be narrowly applied only to employment.

Karlan is also the same attorney who testified during Trump’s first impeachment, explaining why his actions constitute bribery.

As Slate’s Joseph Michael Stern notes, “Pam Karlan is one of very few people to win a civil rights case at the Supreme Court then implement that decision as a federal civil rights official. That’s gotta feel good.”

For her, and for millions of LGBTQ students.

The United States Senate has just confirmed Pete Buttigieg as Secretary of Transportation, by a large margin. Buttigieg, a former Democratic candidate for president who quickly won a strong following, along with the Iowa caucuses, becomes the first openly-gay Senate confirmed Cabinet member in U.S. history.

The bipartisan vote was 86-13, a large margin by any standard, but especially in these hyper-partisan times.

A Millennial, at 39 Buttigieg also becomes the youngest member of the Biden Cabinet.

Senator Kyrsten Sinema (D-AZ) announced the Senate 86-13 confirmation vote of Pete Buttigieg to be President Biden's Transportation Secretary. pic.twitter.com/RuuAhL11bD

— Craig Caplan (@CraigCaplan) February 2, 2021

South Bend’s former “Mayor Pete,” now “Mr. Secretary,” says he is “honored and humbled.”

I'm honored and humbled by today's vote in the Senate—and ready to get to work @USDOT.

— Pete Buttigieg (@PeteButtigieg) February 2, 2021

Senate confirms Pete Buttigieg as secretary of transportation 86-13.

He becomes the first out LGBTQ Cabinet secretary confirmed by the Senate. pic.twitter.com/hx8ZNxImz5

— The Recount (@therecount) February 2, 2021

This is a breaking news and developing story. 

Former Democratic presidential candidate and South Bend mayor Pete Buttigieg will be nominated to become a cabinet secretary in the Biden-Harris administration.

CNN reports Buttigieg has been picked to become the next Secretary of Transportation.

If confirmed Buttigieg would become America’s first Senate-confirmed LGBTQ Cabinet secretary.

“The choice vaults a candidate Biden spoke glowingly of after the Democratic primary into a top job in the incoming administration and could earn Buttigieg what many Democrats believe is needed experience should he run for president again,” CNN notes.

Many see Buttigieg as a highly-skilled and talented politician who surpassed expectation in the primaries. Biden spoke glowingly of Buttigieg, bestowing upon him his highest honor: comparing him to his late son Beau Biden.

Rumors last week were flying, saying Buttigieg might be Biden’s nominee to be Ambassador to China.