Readout of Civil Rights Division’s Quarterly LGBTQI+ Rights Community Stakeholder Meeting During Pride Month

Marking the first week of Pride Month, the Justice Department convened its quarterly interagency meeting with LGBTQI+ community stakeholders. Acting Associate Attorney General Benjamin C. Mizer spoke with those at the meeting and underscored the Department’s commitment to supporting LGBTQI+ communities through our enforcement and grantmaking activities. Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division and the division’s LGBTQI+ Working Group outlined several civil and criminal enforcement efforts.

“Protecting civil rights is at the core of the Justice Department’s mission. As we seek to advance equality for LGBTQI+ Americans, the Department remains committed to bringing all resources to bear in that fight,” said Acting Associate Attorney General Benjamin C. Mizer. “Our efforts span the entire Department and include our pursuit of litigation to protect access to gender-affirming healthcare for transgender adults and minors, and our grants to organizations as well as state and local agencies working to prevent hate crimes and provide trauma-informed support to survivors. While progress is not always easy, we will not let up in our fight to ensure equal justice for everyone, regardless of what they look like, how they worship, or who they love.”

“The Civil Rights Division’s efforts to protect the rights of the LGBTQI+ community are wide-ranging efforts to protect children subjected to bullying and harassment, expand opportunities in education and employment, ensure access to necessary health care, and prosecute those who commit unlawful hate-motivated violence,” said Assistant Attorney General Clarke. “As we continue celebrating Pride Month, we stand ready to use every tool available to safeguard the dignity, safety and civil rights of the LGBTQI+ community to ensure the full protections and guarantees of the U.S. Constitution and federal laws.”

Representatives from the Civil Rights Division, FBI, Community Relations Service Office of Justice Programs, and Office on Violence Against Women, heard from attending organizations on an array of topics, including student safety and well-being, health data privacy, anti-LGBTQI+ violence and hate, HIV discrimination, grant funding concerns, and the need to increase intersex awareness. Representatives from other government agencies, including the Departments of Health and Human Services, Education, Homeland Security, Veterans Affairs, Labor, and Housing and Urban Development, as well as the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, Environmental Protection Agency, National Endowment of the Arts, AmeriCorps, and others, were also in attendance.

This week’s meeting strengthens the Justice Department’s commitment to aggressively protecting LGBTQI+ rights, including through building relationships with LGBTQI+ organizations and stakeholders. The department’s recent work on LGBTQI+ rights includes statements of interest and lawsuits challenging state bans on gender-affirming health care for transgender people in Indiana and Idaho. The department has also vindicated the rights of LGBTQI+ people under the Fair Housing Act and the Americans with Disabilities Act. The department has prosecuted hate crimes based on LGBTQI+ status, including securing its first guilty verdict in a trial under the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act for killing a transgender woman. These and other efforts by the Civil Rights Division can be found on its website at its LGBTQI+ Working Group page.