In what appeared to be an affront to the LGBT community, the U.S. Department of Commerce last week omitted existing workplace discrimination language that made many believe the administration was redefining LGBT protections.
The Commerce Department’s 2017 Secretarial Statement on Equal Employment Opportunity, emailed to department employees Thursday, differed from its previous positions on discrimination by failing to distinguish between sexual harassment and sexual identity, opting to use the word “sex” as an umbrella term for both. The annual statement initially said, in part, the department “does not tolerate behavior, harassment, discrimination or prejudice based on race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age or disability.”
Following a wave of criticism from sexuality and gender identity advocates for the removal of protective language from its original document, the Commerce Department tweeted a clarification later on Thursday saying, “To be clear the Department’s EEO policy statement was never intended to change the policy or exclude any protected categories. The Department of Commerce policy remains that we do not discriminate on the basis of transgender status and sexual orientation.”
