On Wednesday, February 19, the National Fair Housing Alliance (NFHA), National Urban League (NUL), and the AIDS Foundation of Chicago filed a lawsuit, represented by the NAACP Legal Defense and Education Fund (LDF) and Lambda Legal, against the Trump Administration. The lawsuit challenges recent executive orders that undermine diversity, equity, inclusion, accessibility (DEIA) efforts, and target transgender individuals, arguing that the orders harm critical civil rights protections.
The plaintiffs argue that the orders violate the First Amendment by suppressing free speech on DEIA topics, the Fifth Amendment by creating vagueness around what actions are prohibited, and the Fourteenth and Fifth Amendments by discriminating against marginalized groups, especially people of color, women, and LGBTQ+ individuals, with a particular animus toward Black and transgender people. Janai Nelson, President and Director-Counsel of LDF, emphasized that these executive orders not only perpetuate dehumanizing and divisive rhetoric but also aim to stifle organizations providing essential services to marginalized communities.
The lawsuit asserts that:
- The executive orders violate the plaintiffs’ First Amendment right to free speech by censoring and chilling their views on diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility;
- The executive orders are so vague that the organizations do not know what is and is not prohibited, in violation of their Fifth Amendment due process rights; and
- The executive orders discriminate against people of color, women, and LGBTQ+ people, with particular animus toward Black people and transgender individuals, in violation of the Fourteenth and Fifth Amendments’ guarantee of equal protection.
The press release quoted several individuals impacted by the executive orders, including Will, an AIDS Foundation Chicago program participant and caseworker for another organization: “As a Black man living with HIV who has experienced homelessness, for years I have relied on the lifesaving services of organizations like AIDS Foundation Chicago (AFC), who understood my intersectional identities. Now, as I work in the HIV field, I am deeply concerned about the threat these orders represent to AFC’s ability to serve our communities if they can’t even name the issues our people are facing.”
Read the full press release here and read the complaint here.