Since Donald Trump took office, LGBTQ citizens and advocates have braced themselves for an onslaught of policy changes and legislation designed to take away hard-won rights, remove protections against discriminations, and otherwise relegate them back to second-class citizenhood. These policy changes have continued through Trump's second year in office. Here's a month-by-month guide to all the discriminatory and damaging policy and legislation brought by the Trump administration.

January

The Department of Health and Human Services created a new department called the Conscience and Religious Freedom Division as part of the Office of Civil Rights (OCR). It was created to shield health care workers who discriminate against LGBTQ patients or people living with HIV due to moral or religious objections. Two days prior, Trump declared Jan. 16 Religious Freedom Day and called activism to securing LGBTQ protections “incursions” against core religious beliefs and stated that “No American—whether a nun, nurse, baker or business owner—should be forced to choose between the tenets of faith or adherence to the law.” The Conscience and Religious Freedom Division is intended to “restore federal enforcement of our nation's laws that protect the fundamental and unalienable rights of conscience and religious freedom.” The division is now working to guarantee that health care professionals with a moral or religious objection to LGBTQ people are legally able to leave them sick and dying.

February

The Department of Education made official a policy refusing to investigate or defend transgender students banned from school restrooms and locker rooms. This was despite a multitude of court rulings establishing that transgender individuals are protected under Title IX of the Education Amendments Act of 1972, which bars discrimination of students based on sex. The Department of Education reiterated their refusal to protect transgender students again in March.

March

The Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) removed promises of inclusive, discrimination-free communities from its official mission statement. HUD went on to defend the removal of the guidelines by focusing on homeless shelters, arguing that the presence of transgender women in these shelters makes people uncomfortable.

Also in March, President Trump announced a revamped transgender ban on military service members, both existing and future. His original policy attempt, frozen in the federal courts and declared likely unconstitutional, was abandoned in December 2017, but the language changed little in the newest ban. The new policy allows transgender troops to continue to serve, or enlist, but only if they did so as the sex assigned at birth. By disqualifying those with gender dysphoria or those who have taken steps to transition to their gender identity, the “new” ban was as discriminatory as the first.

April

The White House sought to raise the age at which LGBTQ youth can be asked questions concerning their sexual orientation and gender identity on the Department of Justice's National Crime Victimization Survey from 16 to 18. Then-Attorney General Jeff Sessions cited the sensitivity of these questions for the teens involved as the basis, but the questions are voluntary. This change on the survey means a loss of vital data for those trying to understand the challenges queer and transgender youth face. As well, these statistics are often cited in legislation seeking protections for LGBTQ youth as an at-risk population. The age change has the potential to minimize the impact of crimes against LGBTQ citizens, particularly the youngest and most vulnerable.

May

This month saw the successful passing of two anti-LGBTQ laws in Oklahoma and Kansas. The governors of these states signed laws allowing faith-based adoption organizations the right to discriminate against LGBTQ couples and others (such as interfaith or unmarried couples) seeking to foster or adopt children. In both states, workers are free to reject LGBTQ couples based on religious grounds, even if the agency receives state funding. In the past, faith-based adoption agencies were not allowed to discriminate if they received state funding.

Also in May, the White House rolled back protections for incarcerated transgender people that reduce their exposure to sexual abuse and assault, including the right to use facilities that matched their gender identity, like cellblocks and bathrooms. The Bureau of Prisons now uses “biological sex as the initial determination of examination” when placing transgender prisoners. The only consideration of safety now is whether placing a transgender prisoner by biological sex “threatens management and security of the facility or poses a risk to other inmates.” The safety of the transgender inmate is no longer considered.

July

Then-Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced his new Religious Liberty Task Force within the Justice Department. The group's purpose is like the Conscience and Religious Freedom Division within the Office of Civil Rights: to ensure the Justice Department upholds the administration's guidance for protecting religious discrimination.

October

The Trump administration's State Department announced a policy that the same-sex, unmarried partners of United Nations employees will no longer be granted visas to stay in the US. The policy went into immediate effect, forcing diplomats in same-sex partnerships into impossible choices: marry immediately in the US, quit their jobs, or separate to preserve one partner's career. Many diplomats are from countries that make same-sex marriage illegal, or dangerous, making a return to their home country near impossible for any who got married as a result of this policy change.

Additionally, the Department of Health and Human Services released a memo to narrow the legal definition of gender under Title IX, forcing the 1.4 million intersex, nonbinary, and transgender Americans to identify themselves according to their sex assigned at birth. Then the Department of Justice submitted a brief to the Supreme Court stating discrimination against transgender employees is legal because protections under the Title VII of the Civil Rights Act don't extend to transgender individuals.

November

Solicitor General Noel Francisco requested that the lower court cases concerning the revamped transgender military ban be combined and fast-tracked to the U.S. Supreme Court, bypassing the lower federal appeals courts that have often ruled against many of Trump's policies.

December

Early this month the White House shut down an HIV research facility in Montana because the administration objected to the National Institutes of Health's use of fetal tissue in research to find a cure for HIV and AIDS. The workers at the facility were then forbidden from discussing the situation, pitting the biomedical research community against antiabortion activists.

Ten days later, two service members of the Air Force who were discharged for their HIV-positive status sued the Pentagon, claiming a policy change by the Trump administration is discriminatory of patients diagnosed with HIV. The new policy stated any service member that cannot be deployed outside the United States for more than one continuous year should be separated from service. HIV-positive individuals cannot be outside the United States for that long due to required visits with treating doctors. Despite treatment adherence, being asymptomatic, and successful fitness evaluations, and the support from their commanding officers, the plaintiffs were discharged. The policy change, called “Deploy or Get Out,” does not take into account the latest treatments for HIV-positive individuals, which render their viral load virtually undetectable, which means they can work for years without complications or medical issues. There are currently around 1,200 HIV positive soldiers serving in the U.S. military.

There is already an update in 2019 on the never-ending Trump ban on transgender people serving in the military. On Jan. 4, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit ruled a lower court should have reconsidered the transgender ban after the revamp in March 2018. The lower court had ruled that the new ban was too similar to the original ban to deem reconsideration. However, the appeals court found that the new ban was “different enough” from the first and that the lower court should reconsider it in its entirety. If the move Francisco made in November to fast-track the cases related to the transgender military ban is successful, lower courts may not get the opportunity to reconsider the revamped transgender military ban and it will instead be considered at the appeals level.

While both the direction and frequency of the Trump administration's anti-LGBTQ policies are disheartening, there is hope that these policies can be dismantled by a new administration. January is a new year with a party-control shift in the House of Representatives and with a stronger voice in the legislative bodies, changes can be made in response to the recent anti-LGBTQ legislation as 2020 approaches. Happy New Year, and here's to 2019 bringing about positive change!

Angela D. Giampolo, principal of Giampolo Law Group, maintains offices in Pennsylvania and New Jersey and specializes in LGBT law, business law, real estate law and civil rights. Her website is www.giampololaw.com and she maintains two blogs, www.phillygaylawyer.com and www.lifeinhouse.com. Contact her at [email protected].