22222222Seven Days Into the New Administration our Democracy Faces Significant Challenges
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: vochoa@eracoalition.org
The new administration’s actions over the past seven days signal a deliberate shift away from the values of equality and justice.
Just last night, the Trump administration issued a directive to freeze federal funding for all public loans, grants, and other aid. This move sets a concerning precedent by potentially tying grant eligibility to recipients’ alignment with the administration’s policies and views. A federal judge has temporarily blocked Trump’s administration freeze on federal grants.
One executive order attempts to discriminate against, regulate, and control people’s gender. The order seeks to weaken long-standing protections that support rights, dignity, and freedoms of transgender, nonbinary, and intersex people, by forcing the federal government to discriminate when it comes to things like IDs, protections at work and school, public accommodations, health care in prisons and more. The order endangers women and girls by aggressively subjecting anyone who doesn’t conform to sex-based stereotypes to invasive scrutiny often leading to privacy violations and harassment.
Another executive action pardoned twenty three people who blockaded reproductive health clinics that provide abortions, sending the message that anti-abortion activists aren’t accountable for the harm that they caused women seeking healthcare. At the same time women are being criminalized for miscarrying pregnancies.
One of the first executive orders issued ends federal voter registration programs which aim to increase participation in elections. We deserve a government that focuses on removing barriers, modernizing voter registration, and ensuring everyone has access to accurate election information.
Another executive order would end birthright citizenship. This order flies in the face of the 14th Amendment of the Constitution and is a clear indication in the belief that only some are welcome in this country. The fact is citizenship rights are guaranteed, we have to be vigilant against those who seek to take away any fundamental right. A federal judge in Seattle has already temporarily blocked Donald Trump’s attempt to end birthright citizenship in the US.
Even more distressing, is the immediate escalation of Immigration Customs Enforcement (ICE) raids in businesses, places of worship, and schools. In Newark, New Jersey, undocumented residents and citizens were detained without warrants, breaking families apart. These actions are cruel, unnecessary, and target immigrant women, some of the most vulnerable among us.
These actions are not isolated—they are dangerous and deeply harmful, especially for marginalized communities. They reflect a broader strategy of using fear and division to weaken our democracy and erode our freedoms.
The administration’s rollback of federal Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Accessibility (DEIA) initiatives through the “Ending Radical and Wasteful Government DEI Programs and Preferencing” Executive Order signals the direction of the new administration. Revoked this week was Executive Order 11246, a civil rights policy dating back to the Johnson Administration that prohibited discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, or national origin in federal contracting. Abandoning essential values of fairness spreads intolerance, limits freedom of expression and identity, and targets federal employees of color, women and the LGBTQIA+ community and disabled persons and others who are too often excluded.
Now, more than ever, we must come together with compassion, stand in solidarity , and fight to protect our democracy. At the heart of this fight is the Equal Rights Amendment—a critical step toward a more just and equitable nation. These executive orders are intended to divide, distract, and embolden the hateful and divisive rhetoric of those who oppose equality, but we will not back down.
We will not stay silent. We will continue to raise our voices against these injustices, fight for the rights of the most vulnerable, and work together to create a future rooted in equality and justice for all.
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The ERA Coalition is a movement of movements, comprising over 300 partner organizations nationwide, and representing 80 million individuals. We advocate for transformative change and spearhead both community and political movements aimed at securing Constitutional recognition. We increase public understanding of the need for codifying the equal treatment of people on the basis of sex in the Constitution, and the need to end sex inequality in all its forms. This is what unites us all.