EPA Cancels LGBTQ Pride And Resilience Event Due To Trump Crackdown
The Environmental Protection Agency canceled a virtual event on LGBTQ pride and resilience that was to be given by an 84-year-old psychologist and longtime gay rights activist, because of President Donald Trump’s executive order banning diversity training, HuffPost has learned.
The event, “What LGBT Pride and Resilience Can Teach Us About Navigating Covid and Beyond,” was scheduled for Oct. 7.
But a month before that, in a memo, the White House ordered federal agencies to stop holding diversity trainings, which it called “divisive, anti-American propaganda.” In a subsequent order, Trump extended the ban to all companies that contract with, or receive funding from, the federal government.
Though the orders appear to mostly concern trainings that focus on race and sex, the bans have had a far more broad effect, as the EPA action shows.
People are afraid of getting in trouble because it’s like [a] McCarthyism communist Red Scare. EPA employee
“What’s so insidious and tyrannical about the executive orders and memos and guidances is they just cast such a broad net that anything falling into diversity and inclusion is now under threat,” one EPA employee, who spoke on the condition of anonymity out of fear of retaliation, told HuffPost. “People are afraid of getting in trouble because it’s like [a] McCarthyism communist Red Scare.”
“We aren’t familiar with” the canceled event, EPA spokesman James Hewitt told HuffPost. “EPA is committed to ensuring that all employees fully understand the laws and policies regarding civil rights, affirmative action, and equal access/equal opportunity. All EPA employees are expected to be familiar with and have a full understanding of the federal laws relating to civil rights.”
Political appointees at the agency have largely avoided communicating restrictions on diversity events in writing, instead announcing cancellations and concerns during virtual office-hour sessions, according to...
