Republicans Scream After Trump Signs USMCA Trade Deal Which Includes LGBT Employment Protections

November 30, 2018 Civil Rights, LGBT News

Minutes ago Trump signed the so-called USMCA trade deal, or NAFTA under another name. As I previously reported, anti-LGBT hate groups and dozens of the most viciously anti-LGBT Republican members of Congress loudly objected to a section of the deal which provides LGBT employment protections. The Liberty Counsel launched a petition to Trump against the “radical LGBT provision.”

But the deal has been signed.

GOP Rep. Doug Lamborn is already screaming:

For the first time in a free trade agreement, sexual orientation and gender identity language (SOGI) is contained within President Trump’s U.S.-Mexico-Canada-Agreement (USMCA). At Canada’s insistence, Article 23 of the agreement redefines the word “sex” to include “sexual orientation and gender identity.” Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s government is calling it a “win” for the LGBT community. But it is a loss for American sovereignty.

The inclusion of this language may come as a surprise, given the fact that the Trump administration is currently working to create consistent policies regarding SOGI. In October 2017, then-Attorney General Jeff Sessions issued a memo to U.S. attorneys clarifying that sex discrimination does not encompass gender identity, including transgender status. It is troubling that the USMCA is pushing language contradictory to this administration’s policies.

Earlier this month I sent a letter to President Trump, along with 45 co-signers from the U.S. House of Representatives, urging him to remove the SOGI language before signing the agreement with President Enrique Peña Nieto of Mexico and Trudeau on Nov. 30. The United States should protect its sovereignty over the interests of other countries. A trade agreement is no place for the adoption of social policy.

Lawmakers in all three countries must now ratify the deal.



Tags

© joemygod.com 2024