Jeff Sessions Reverses DOJ Policy Protecting Transgender Employees From Discrimination

Attorney General Jeff Sessions reversed a policy that protected transgender employees from discrimination, BuzzFeed News reported Thursday. Sessions sent a memo Wednesday that said Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which prohibits sex discrimination, does not encompass gender identity and therefore does not apply to transgender individuals. The memo reverses a Department of Justice policy position adopted by the Obama administration. “Although federal law, including Title VII, provides various protections to transgender individuals, Title VII does not prohibit discrimination based on gender identity per se,” Sessions wrote in the memo. “This is a conclusion of law, not policy. As a law enforcement agency, the Department of Justice must interpret Title VII as written by Congress.”