Letter: Trump directive legalizes discrimination

Graphic by Lori Deaton

It has taken me some time to begin to write this post. As American democracy slides into the waste bin, and our system of checks and balances is rendered meaningless, I no longer try to understand why some of the people I have loved voted for Trump. The stolen children were enough, the pardons past and to come undermining our justice system, the misogyny, the very clear racism of our president and his supporters. Any one of these things was enough. “Nobody wanted to hurt me personally,” but you have.

[According to the Aug. 17 BuzzFeed News article, “Trump Is Giving Federal Contractors a ‘Religious Exemption’ for Discrimination”]: This is my government blocking people like me and my daughter from jobs. This is not the beginning, because all of this began when he was voted into office. You have helped make discrimination against me, my family, my friends legal. Not meaning to does not make you innocent. Thinking is a responsibility, and I expect more from people I have loved. Being sorry is not the same as caring.

You voted for white supremacy, bigotry, xenophobia and misogyny. Nobody can say they did not understand the president’s views on women. He made that clear. Nobody can say they did not understand his views on democracy. He made that clear. And yet you voted for him. I can only conclude that you agree.

— Jan Walker
Asheville

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7 thoughts on “Letter: Trump directive legalizes discrimination

  1. B.E. Vickroy

    Re: “discrimination against me, my family, and friends” Not unless you demand employment at a religious organization, & refuse to meet its standards. Do you really want to force yourself on a religious charity whose core principles you think are just so much trash?
    Re: ” Being sorry is not the same as caring.” Thinking people, of course, know that one without the other is hypocrisy.

    Here are a few snips from an article about the guidelines that you find so objectionable:
    -*- The guidelines recently issued by the DOL, explain that under current law the federal government may not discriminate against religious contractors or subcontractors. Instead, all contractors, religious and non-religious, must be permitted to compete for federal contracts on an equal playing field.

    Since 2002, religious contractors have been protected by Section 204(c) of Executive Order 11246, which provides that a religious organization can maintain hiring practices faithful to its beliefs when it contracts with the federal government. But, certain guidelines issued by the Obama administration called into doubt whether religious organizations would have to abandon their internal religious character if they wished to continue to compete for federal contracts

    The guidelines also draw from recent decisions by the U.S. Supreme Court like Trinity Lutheran Church of Columbia, Inc. v. Comer in which the court explains that the “government violates the Free Exercise clause when it conditions a generally available public benefit on an entity’s giving up its religious character, unless that condition withstands the strictest scrutiny.”

    https://townhall.com/columnists/stephanietaub/2018/08/26/dol-issues-new-guidelines-to-stop-discrimination-against-religious-federal-contractors-n2512759

  2. Enlightened Enigma

    hard to believe that people can be so disillusioned and unenlightened about the real world… try to learn more about America, and the opportunities for you everyday, Jan.

    • Lulz

      These people believe their way is right and if anyone disagrees that they are not only wrong, but evil. They have no idea of freedom and believe in authoritarianism insofar that people must not only behave a certain way; they must also think it as well. Being labeled every “ist” under the sun proves that. Very ignorant yet very dangerous as well.

      • Godslayer

        You’re talking about religious people, right? Because all of that is indisputably true about them.

  3. Lulz

    These are the same loons that wanted to force birth control and abortion via Obamacare on religious organizations or employers that didn’t agree with it. But of course that doesn’t compute with them.

    Same old tired BS by the leftist.

  4. Enlightened Enigma

    liberalism IS a mental disorder …

    Thank God we don’t have to live under Hitlary!

  5. Stan Hawkins

    Your primary objection or beef appears to be with the executive decision noted in Buzz Feed concerning the department of labor, but you fail to provide your readers with how this Department of Labor ruling has negatively effected you? You obviously have partisan political positions, which may lead you to believe or assume that bad will come from this, but you do not explain how? Those facts may help your readers assess the legitimacy of your complaint.

    If we are talking about jobs, the number of job openings now exceed the number of unemployed. Wages are rising organically for the first time in many years. If you have employable skills there is no better time than now to compete for a job. The EEOC, natural political accountability, the courts, and the need to get jobs done are all in your favor. It is no secret that the Obama administration was particularly dismissive of religious liberties in our country. This overstep has been addressed by the DOL.

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