‘Our mission is under attack’: LGBTQ centers sue Trump administration over executive orders

A group of non-profit organizations serving LGBTQ individuals and people living with HIV/AIDS around the country filed a federal lawsuit against the Trump administration in response to several of the president’s executive orders — all of which, they say, threaten their work and their clients. Backed by Lambda Legal, the group of nine non-profits — including the LGBT Community Center in New York City — are primarily challenging an executive order entitled "Defending Women from Gender Ideology Extremism and Restoring Biological Truth to the Federal Government,” which erases transgender and non-binary individuals and bars federal contractors and grantees from acknowledging their identities or advocating for civil rights, according to Lambda Legal. Furthermore, the suit targets two other executive orders: "Ending Radical and Wasteful Government DEI Programs and Preferencing” and “Ending Illegal Discrimination and Restoring Merit-Based Opportunity.” The lawsuit, filed in US District Court of the Northern District of California, challenges the executive orders by arguing that they violate free speech under the First Amendment and also violate the Fifth Amendment's Due Process Clause, as well as the 14th Amendment's Equal Protection Clause. The suit also charges the administration with running afoul of the Administrative Procedures Act. Other organizations involved in the suit include four California-based organizations: San Francisco AIDS Foundation, Los Angeles LGBT Center, GLBT Historical Society, San Francisco Community Health Center; the Arizona-based organization Prisma Community Care; the Bradbury-Sullivan Community Center in Pennsylvania; Baltimore Safe Haven in Maryland; and FORGE, which is based in Wisconsin. After the executive orders were handed down, federal agencies notified non-profits that funding would be slashed at organizations serving trans individuals or carrying out "equity-related" work,  according to Lambda Legal, which noted that some organizations have already been impacted. “Every year thousands of people walk through our doors in need of services... but today, our ability to fulfill our mission is under attack,” Dr. Carla Smith, CEO of the LGBT Community Center, said during a Lambda Legal press call with other plaintiffs on Feb. 20. “These executive orders issued by the Trump administration — including the so-called 'gender ideology' executive order — are a direct attempt to erase transgender, non-binary and genderqueer people.” Jose Abrigo, Lambda Legal’s HIV Project Director and the top lawyer representing the plaintiffs, said the executive orders are not just a burden on the organizations — they are an "existential threat." “They join this lawsuit to fight the Trump administration’s attempt to erase transgender people from public life, and to continue the services they provide to marginalized communities, including communities of color and people living with HIV,” Abrigo said.