- [Shakina] While the Supreme Court recently ruled
six to three that workers can't be fired
for LGBTQ status, at the same time,
the Trump administration rolled back an Obama-era rule
that protected LGBTQ patients, specifically trans folks,
from discrimination when it comes to healthcare
and health insurance, meaning, regardless
of whether someone is employed or not,
they can be denied healthcare services.
The Trump administration's reversal of the rule
was announced on the fourth anniversary
of a mass shooting that took place at a gay nightclub
called Pulse, where
Behind that push to make it easier
to discriminate against a community
of our fellow citizens during a pandemic, and from now on,
is a man named
I'm actress Shakina Nayfack, and this
is the story of Roger Severino.
- We don't want the government to treat people
of religious faith as outsiders.
- [Shakina] That's Roger Severino,
- Unfortunately, the world is a very dangerous place
for people of faith.
- [Shakina] Severino was born sometime in the mid-70s
to Colombian immigrants, and grew up in Los Angeles.
Growing up in a Spanish-speaking family,
Severino faced a ton of discrimination
for something he couldn't help.
As a kid, he was often the victim of racism,
and when he was attending high school,
he says his teachers were skeptical
that a Latino kid could take honors classes, which he did.
Severino overcame this unfortunate bigotry,
and went on to Harvard School of Law,
graduating in 2002 with a JD.
he said,
in the midst of setting up what was seemingly
a trans discrimination task force.
From Harvard, Severino got right to on the job
work experience making LGBTQ+ Americans' lives harder.
Severino worked as a legal counsel
for The Becket Fund, a law firm
that focuses on religious liberty.
At the firm, he served as one of the main lawyers
in a case he won that banned same sex couples
from marrying in Maryland.
In a 2006 op-ed he wrote in the Philadelphia Enquirer,
Severino said the concept,
and he's since made it his life's mission to not let live.
The Atlantic notes what The Becket Fund
eventually came to be after Severino left.
Severino spent nearly five years at the law firm
that once argued that companies, like people,
can have religious rights, and use those religious rights
to discriminate against Americans.
After some time with the Department of Justice,
Severino went on to work as the director
of the DeVos Center for Religion and Civil Society
at The Heritage Foundation.
The Heritage Foundation is a conservative think tank,
and the branch Severino worked for
was funded by Michigan's finest, the DeVos family.
- I would imagine that there's probably
a gun in the school to protect from potential grizzlies.
- [Shakina] In addition to constantly arguing
against legalizing same sex marriage,
Severino was one of the biggest critics
of the Obama administration's ruling
on Section 1557 of the Affordable Care Act,
which bans discrimination against trans Americans.
In a 2016 Heritage Foundation report,
Severino co-wrote an article about how
the Affordable Care Act's gender identity mandate
would interfere with doctors' religious beliefs,
of which they chose to believe.
So why did this guy tap Severino?
- As your president, I will do everything in my power
to protect our LGBTQ citizens from the violence
and oppression of a hateful foreign ideology.
Believe me.
- [Shakina] Because Severino's hateful ideology
is domestic, and who cares about that?
Trump himself has rescinded the Obama administration's
policy allowing trans students to use the bathroom
of their choice, and he's attempted to ban
trans Americans from serving their country in the military.
Trump, who dodged the draft, is now
making calls on who gets to join.
His administration even tried to discharge
trans Americans already serving, and in May,
Trump signed an executive order
launching a new faith-based initiative.
Trump called the order
and he said it will help
As the Daily Beast notes,
- Religious liberty is our first freedom, and our
birthright, and there's two important concepts there.
First, it's our first freedom.
It has pre-eminence among our liberties,
and this makes a lot of sense.
It even comes before the freedom of speech.
- [Shakina] Trump quietly tapped Severino
as the director of the Office for Civil Rights
at the US Department of Health and Human Services
in March of 2017, and ever since he took the post,
the HHS, ostensibly responsible for the health
and wellbeing of all Americans,
has transformed into a hub for pro-life,
anti-LGBTQ devout Christians.
Severino, who is supposed to be cracking down
on discrimination, is instead enabling it.
In a serious position of power,
what used to just be ideology now
has the potential of becoming policy.
He's overseeing the administration's effort
to define trans people out of existence,
as the New York Times puts it.
According to a memo seen by the New York Times,
the HHS proposed that,
This new proposed definition goes against
what decades of science have shown us,
and also, ignores the already medically-subscribed-to
consensus on sex, that it goes beyond just
what your classification is on your birth certificate,
genitals, or the chromosomal makeup of your body.
If the HHS is successful in its effort
to create an outcast group of people in America,
this new policy could strip away
the few protections trans Americans have been granted.
It could permit healthcare providers
to refuse to work with patients,
trans Americans could be denied jobs,
housing, and schools could even feel more empowered
to discriminate against trans children.
In one recent incident, a ten year old trans girl
was left out of the active shooter drill at her school
because teachers didn't allow her
in the male or female locker rooms,
so she huddled vulnerably in the gym by herself.
When she came home to her mother, she said,
If legislation is to move forward,
things like this will become far more frequent.
Trans Americans reportedly experience
higher rates of depression than the general US population
due to this misunderstanding.
If a policy is put in place, what has already been
a life filled with discrimination and violence
through verbal and physical abuse
will seemingly get even more difficult.
Severino is married to Carrie Severino,
who runs the Judicial Crisis Network.
It's a group that reportedly spent millions of dollars
in support of Brett Kavanaugh's confirmation.
- Yes, we drank beer, I liked beer.
- [Shakina] So if erasing a whole group of people
does find its way to the Supreme Court,
the outcome is obvious.
- So much of the issues that are being debated
will ultimately, ultimately be resolved,
for better or for worse, by the United States Supreme Court.
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