The Orwellian nightmare of LGBT rights under Trump: How the new DoJ may promote discrimination

The Orwellian nightmare of LGBT rights under Trump: How the new Department of Justice may promote discrimination

What is Pat McRory's white-shoe hatchet man on the bathroom bill going to do with the civil rights job at DOJ?

NICO LANG

The Orwellian nightmare that is the Trump administration just tapped a new recruit. John M. Gore will lead the Office of Civil Rights at the Department of Justice, as the legal blog Above the Law reported late last week. Gore is a litigator at Jones Day, a Washington-based firm that has been aiding the 45th president’s transition effort. Gore is the second attorney from the firm to make the move to the DOJ. He follows Noel Francisco, an appellate litigator at Jones Day, who will serve as the department’s principal deputy solicitor general.

Putting Gore, who has little experience in defending individuals’ rights in a position where he will be expected to do just that, isn’t just rank cronyism (the kind Trump promised to fight if elected president). It is also a significant affront to the LGBT community.

Gore famously defended the University of North Carolina in a suit brought by the federal government over enforcement of House Bill 2, the state’s controversial anti-LGBT law. The college took a different approach than former governor Pat McCrory, who continued to defend the bathroom bill in the face of widespread criticism, including from the state’s attorney general. UNC claimed that it was not actually enforcing the law, which mandates that trans people in schools and government buildings use restrooms that match the sex they were assigned at birth not their gender identity.

This is despite the school’s initial claims it would follow the law, which UNC’s president, Margaret Spellings, later backed off from.

In a statement issued following Gore’s appointment to the DOJ, Mara Keisling, the executive director of the National Center for Transgender Equality, noted the “disturbing” subtext of the choice. “At the core of the Justice Department’s mission is defending our civil rights,” Keisling said. “Mr. Gore’s only civil rights experience is in defending violations of civil rights.”

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http://www.salon.com/2017/01/25/the-orwellian-nightmare-of-lgbt-rights-under-trump-how-the-new-department-of-justice-may-promote-discrimination/