By Alana Winns
In what appeared to be an affront to the LGBT community, the U.S. Department of Commerce last week omitted existing workplace discrimination language that made many believe the administration was redefining LGBT protections.
The Commerce Department’s 2017 Secretarial Statement on Equal Employment Opportunity, emailed to department employees Thursday, differed from its previous positions on discrimination by failing to distinguish between sexual harassment and sexual identity, opting to use the word “sex” as an umbrella term for both. The annual statement initially said, in part, the department “does not tolerate behavior, harassment, discrimination or prejudice based on race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age or disability.”
