Robert Kennedy Jr assures agencies they can discriminate against trans people
https://www.lgbtqnation.com/2025/04/robert-kennedy-jr-assures-agencies-they-can-discriminate-against-trans-people/
By Molly Sprayregen (17 April 2025)
Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has declared that gender dysphoria is no longer protected under a critical piece of legislation meant to protect people with disabilities from discrimination.
Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act protects people with disabilities from discrimination by programs and activities run by federal agencies or that receive federal funding. Gender dysphoria was included in the preamble to the Biden administration's final rule on the section, but it was not mentioned in the body text. As such, Kennedy said protections for those with gender dysphoria are not legally binding.
Kennedy concluded by saying the law is clear on this matter but that he issued the notice "out of an abundance of caution," which seems to communicate that he wanted to make sure federal agencies and programs receiving federal funding know that it's permissible to discriminate against folks with gender dysphoria.
Advocates considered the Biden-era rule critical to ensuring trans people could obtain reasonable accommodations and could pursue legal options when those accommodations were denied to them due to their gender identity.
"Removing gender dysphoria as a protected disability is yet another angle of attack on transgender rights by the Trump administration," Allison Chapman, an LGBTQ+ legislative researcher, told Truthout. "This opens up those with gender dysphoria to discrimination in the workplace, school, and pretty much all aspects of life, without legal recourse."