LGBTQ rights groups file lawsuits challenging Trump's executive orders

[Jessica_Rose]

LGBTQ rights groups file lawsuits challenging Trump's executive orders

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/lgbtq-rights-groups-file-lawsuits-challenging-trump-s-executive-orders/ar-AA1ztGY5?ocid=hpmsn&cvid=acb273d30c094728c8724ecd3bcd2b9d&ei=36

ABC News (20 Feb 2025)

Several LGBTQ rights organizations sued the Trump administration on Thursday, alleging that the president's executive orders aimed at dismantling diversity and equity programs are unconstitutional and will cripple critical programs used by Americans.

The lawsuit, filed by civil rights groups the Legal Defense Fund and Lambda Legal on behalf of several nonprofits, is one of dozens filed against the new administration one month into office. All of the plaintiffs receive federal funding to support their work.

"The government is attempting to erase a very specific group of people. Transgender and non-binary folks in our country are being singled out as individuals who are being told that they don't exist," Tyler TerMeer, one of the plaintiffs and CEO of the San Francisco AIDS Foundation, told ABC News in an interview Thursday.

In the complaint, the nonprofits claim that the executive orders are a violation of their Fifth Amendment rights under the U.S. Constitution that "[n]o person shall ... be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law."

"The executive orders, in essence, require our organizations or non-governmental entities to certify that they don't engage in DEI work or engage in what they call radical gender ideology in any of their work," Jose Abrigo, senior attorney at Lambda Legal, told ABC News in an interview Thursday.

"So, this case particularly is really important ... it prevents the government from forcing their viewpoint on essentially private nonprofits who are serving the community for good."