On May 30, the US State Department announced the creation of the “Inalienable Rights Commission” to advise Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. The body, chaired by anti-abortion activist Mary Ann Glendon, was set up to promote a reinterpretation of human rights based on “laws and natural rights.” Read on The Washington Post. The measure was repudiated by Amnesty International in a public statement, arguing that the measure rejects international agreements and threatens millions of people for motivating other human rights systems not to respect the existing legal framework.
On July 17, the Secretary of State also hosted the Second Ministerial Meeting for the Advancement of Religious Freedom, an international meeting with more than 1,000 members of global politics and civil society, which brought together human rights defenders who oppose Trump. , as well as its main allies in religious conservatism for the same purpose. According to The Atlantic analysis, the meeting can be read as an effort to make Washington the center of a conservative faith-based global order, with its own doctrine of intervention and hierarchy of values, on the grounds of “religious freedom”, very well used by the administration in its favor (read in English).
The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) ‘s Civil Rights Office is preparing a federal policy that will allow foster institutions to discriminate against candidates for foster parents based on their religious conscience, which especially affects LGBTTIQ + and other faith families. At the Miracle Hill Christian agency, which the Trump administration had already granted an exemption in January, parents must also sign a statement alleging denying the existence of transgender people and same-sex marriages, which especially affects LGBT adopted children and adolescents (read on NYT). In response, Senator Kirstin Gillibrand proposed the Every Child Deserves a Family Act on June 13 to combat discrimination promoted by federally funded agencies.
The “Equality Act” to protect LGBTQ individuals from various forms of discrimination was passed in the House on July 24. The bill, introduced in mid-March, amends a series of laws to ensure protection against discrimination based on sex, gender identity, and sexual orientation. However, on May 2, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) published the Health Discrimination Rules that expands conscientious objection to providers based on religious beliefs for all health-related services, including research and coverage. Insurance The HHS also proposes new regulations to remove LGBTQ discrimination protections from the Affordable Care Act. Lambda Legal, US United States for Separation of Church and State, and the Reproductive Rights Center filed a lawsuit challenging the “Denial of Care” rule on May 28.