Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent, who is an out gay man, is trying to remove sexual orientation and gender identity from a list of protected categories on certain forms about discrimination in the workplace, which Democrats say could make it harder to fight anti-LGBTQ+ job discrimination.

Out Reps. Becca Balint (D-VT), Mark Takano (D-CA), and Ritchie Torres (D-NY) sent a letter to Bessent asking him not to remove the terms from the Treasury Department’s Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) forms, saying that it could confuse people, Advocate reports.

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The Supreme Court ruled in its 2020 Bostock v. Clayton Co. decision that Title VII’s protections against discrimination because of sex also prohibit anti-LGBTQ+ job discrimination because it is impossible to discriminate on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity without taking sex into account, but the Democrats said that many people might not know this.

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“Employees should not have to know EEOC or Supreme Court precedent to know that the discrimination they faced on the basis of gender identity or sexual orientation is unlawful sex discrimination that can be reported,” they wrote. Such confusion could dissuade LGBTQ+ people from filing discrimination complaints.

Torres specifically called out Bessent for leading this effort since Bessent is gay.

“Secretary Bessent’s move to erase sexual orientation and gender identity from EEO forms signals to LGBTQ+ federal employees that their government may no longer stand with them,” he told Advocate. “That is a betrayal.”

The move comes several months after an executive order told federal agencies to remove references to gender identity and only recognize sex as “male” or “female” on official documents.

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