WASHINGTON — Within hours of taking the oath of office, President Joe Biden signed an order on Wednesday directing his administration to review all existing federal orders, policies, regulations and guidance documents and see whether they should be revised to comply with his new policy prohibiting discrimination on the basis of so-called gender identity and sexual orientation.
His order seems to suggest that “transgenders” will be permitted to use their preferred restroom and locker room, and play on the sports team that corresponds with their “gender identity.”
“Children should be able to learn without worrying about whether they will be denied access to the restroom, the locker room, or school sports,” the order, entitled “Executive Order on Preventing and Combating Discrimination on the Basis of Gender Identity or Sexual Orientation,” reads.
“Adults should be able to earn a living and pursue a vocation knowing that they will not be fired, demoted, or mistreated because of whom they go home to or because how they dress does not conform to sex-based stereotypes,” it continues. “People should be able to access healthcare and secure a roof over their heads without being subjected to sex discrimination.”
Biden’s order asserts that the aforementioned rights of transgenders and homosexuals are “reflected in the Constitution,” which requires equal protection of the laws.
It also points to last year’s Supreme Court ruling in Bostock v. Clayton County, in which the court ruled 6-3 that a section of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, known as Title VII, which bars discrimination on the basis of sex, among other traits, may be read to include homosexuals and “transgenders.”
The order deduces that the ruling would consequently also apply to Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972, the Fair Housing Act, and the Immigration and Nationality Act.
Biden then declares, “It is the policy of my administration to prevent and combat discrimination on the basis of gender identity or sexual orientation, and to fully enforce Title VII and other laws that prohibit discrimination on the basis of gender identity or sexual orientation.”
It consequently directs every agency within his administration, “as soon as practicable and in consultation with the attorney general,” to “review all existing orders, regulations, guidance documents, policies, programs, or other agency actions” and “consider whether to revise, suspend, or rescind such agency actions, or promulgate new agency actions, as necessary to fully implement statutes that prohibit sex discrimination.”
Agencies have 100 days to come up with a plan to make federal policies and guidance come into alignment with his executive order.
The religious liberties organization Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF), which is representing three girls in Connecticut who state that they lost opportunities for advancement in high school track as they were bested by two biological males, lamented Biden’s move.
“Unfortunately, the Biden administration wasted no time in demanding policies that gut legal protections for women by denying female athletes fair competition in sports, ignoring women’s unique health needs, and forcing vulnerable girls to share intimate spaces with men who identify as female,” remarked Legal Counsel Christiana Holcomb in a statement.
“This isn’t equality, and it isn’t progress,” she said. “President Biden’s call for ‘unity’ falls flat when he seeks to hold those receiving federal funds hostage if they don’t do tremendous damage to the rights, opportunities, and dignity of women and girls.”
Holcomb expressed additional concern about how the order will be enforced, noting, “Where similar policies have already been enacted through state or local laws, they’ve also repeatedly been used to force Americans to celebrate events and speak messages that violate their core beliefs.”
Psalm 94:20 states, “Shall the throne of iniquity have fellowship with thee, which frameth mischief by a law?”
American theologian Albert Barnes once said in expounding on the passage, “Such laws — such purposes — ‘cannot’ be in accordance with the laws and authority of God; or, in other words, God does not sit on the same throne with those who authorize and by law sustain [sin]. There can be no partnership here.”
“It is an insult to God to suppose that He has ever appointed legislators or magistrates for the purpose of making or upholding such enactments.”