Civil Rights Agency Sued Over Handling of Transgender Worker Discrimination Complaints Under Trump
Source: US News and World Report/AP
July 29, 2025, at 5:29 p.m.
Legal groups sued the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission Tuesday, claiming it is unlawfully refusing to enforce federal workplace protections for transgender workers.
Led by Acting Chair Andrea Lucas, a Republican, the federal agency charged with enforcing laws against workplace discrimination has moved swiftly to comply with President Donald Trump's executive order declaring two unchangeable sexes. Under Lucas’s leadership, the EEOC has dropped several lawsuits on behalf of transgender workers, stalled progress on some new cases, and subjected others to heightened scrutiny. The lawsuit also alleges that the agency halted payments to state and local civil rights agencies for investigating gender identity discrimination claims.
“For over 60 years, the EEOC’s mandate has been to protect workers from discrimination, not to pick and choose who is deemed worthy of protection based on political interference,” said Skye Perryman, the president and CEO of Democracy Forward, which alongside the National Women’s Law Center brought the case on behalf of Maryland LGBTQ+ advocacy group FreeState Justice.
“The Trump-Vance administration’s unlawful effort to erase protections for transgender people is cruel, and a violation of the law and the Constitution,” Perryman continued in an emailed statement.
Read more: https://www.usnews.com/news/business/articles/2025-07-29/civil-rights-agency-sued-over-handling-of-transgender-worker-discrimination-complaints-under-trump
Link to Democracy Forward PRESS RELEASE - Lawsuit Challenges EEOC’s Unlawful Refusal to Protect Transgender Workers from Discrimination
Link to SUIT (PDF) - https://democracyforward.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/EEOC-Complaint-as-filed.pdf