President Joe Biden signed an executive order Wednesday aimed at combating a historic number of anti-LGBTQ bills introduced in state legislatures across the country.
The order will direct federal health and education agencies to expand access to gender-affirming care and advance LGBTQ-inclusive learning environments at American schools.
It will also curb federal funding for the debunked practice of “conversion therapy,” which nearly every leading U.S. medical association has condemned, and ask the Federal Trade Commission to consider whether the practice constitutes an unfair or deceptive act.
The president’s order comes during LBGTQ Pride month and as advocates fight against a record number of anti-LGBTQ bills introduced in states across the country this year — more than 320, according to the Human Rights Campaign (HRC), the nation’s largest LGBTQ advocacy group.
“We’re in a battle for the soul of the nation,” the president said to a group of LGBTQ activists and Democratic lawmakers at a White House signing ceremony Wednesday. “And when I look around this room here and at all of you here today, it’s a battle I know we will win.”
“My message to all the young people: Just be you. You are loved. You are understood. You do belong,” Biden added. “I want you to know that as your president, all of us on this stage, have your back.”
A bulk of the bills signed into law in recent months — 24 in 13 states, according to the HRC — aim to limit access to gender-affirming care for transgender youth, prohibit trans girls and women from competing on girls’ sports teams in school, and bar the instruction of LGBTQ issues in school. FULL REPORT
