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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Sessions ends transgender workplace protections

Attorney General Jeff Sessions speaks at the annual conference of the National Alliance for Drug Endangered Children at the KI Convention Center on Tuesday, Aug. 29, 2017 in Green Bay, Wis. (Adam Wesley / AP)
By Sadie Gurman and David Crary Associated Press

WASHINGTON – Attorney General Jeff Sessions says federal civil rights law does not protect transgender people from discrimination at work.

That’s a reversal of an Obama-era directive that interpreted the Civil Rights Act of 1964 as prohibiting workplace discrimination against transgender employees. In a memo to the nation’s federal prosecutors, Sessions says the law bars discrimination between men and women but does not extend to gender identity.

Sessions says “this is a conclusion of law, not policy.” And he says the move should not be construed to condone mistreatment of transgender people.

LGBT-rights advocates immediately assailed the reversal as the latest in a series of Trump administration actions targeting their constituency.

A Justice Department spokesman says the Obama administration was wrong to interpret the law beyond what Congress intended.