A city in Virginia could become the first in the nation to reverse its anti-discrimination protections for LGBTQ+ people.
The Arlington City Council will vote on a revised ordinance Tuesday evening, obtained by the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, which would remove “Gender Identity and Expression” and “Sexual Orientation” as protected groups. The vote comes after the council temporarily suspended the clause in September due to threats from Donald Trump‘s administration.
Arlington’s current anti-discrimination ordinance prohibits “any direct or indirect exclusion, distinction, segregation, limitation, refusal, denial, or other differentiation in the treatment of a person or persons because of a race, color, national origin, age, religion, sex, disability, sexual orientation or gender identity.”
Trump officials threatened early last month to revoke $65 million in federal grant money from the city if it did not remove language related to diversity, equity and inclusion from its municipal code. Both Arlington and Fort Worth subsequently voted to end their DEI programs and rewrite ordinances to exclude phrases related to race and gender.
The Trump administration has also threatened to withhold funding from five school districts in the state — Alexandria, Arlington, Fairfax, Loudoun, and Prince William — that have inclusive policies for transgender students, such as allowing students to use bathrooms and locker rooms aligning with their gender identity. All five school districts have stated that they will not change their policies.
While Trump has signed executive orders against DEI, and declaring that there are only two sexes and trans people don’t exist against medical and scientific consensus, these orders are not law and have been partially blocked by a federal court.
Iowa removed gender identity from its state Civil Rights Act in February, making it the first state in the country to take away rights from a group previously protected in law. If the ordinance in Arlington passes, it would be the first individual city to do so.
This article originally appeared on Advocate: Virginia city could be first in nation to rescind LGBTQ+ anti-discrimination protections
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