The city of West Hollywood strongly rejects the Trump administration’s proposed rule to amend Section 1557 of the Health Care Rights Law, a part of the Affordable Care Act that offers protections to transgender people in health care settings.

The new interpretation of the nondiscrimination provision of Section 1557 of the act would essentially allow healthcare providers to discriminate based on gender identity and will directly affect the very communities the law is meant to protect including women, older adults, people with disabilities, and the LGBTQ community. These populations already face high levels of discrimination by health care providers.

“Removing discrimination protections for transgender people is a dehumanizing decision that speaks volumes about the Trump administration’s lack of empathy for the LGBTQ community,” Mayor John D’Amico said.

The Trump administration has consistently aimed to target and roll back nearly all political advances transgender people made under the Obama administration. The city of West Hollywood has been one of the most outspoken cities in the nation in advocating for the legal rights of LGBT people. More than 40% of residents in West Hollywood identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender. The city is one of the first municipalities to form a Transgender Advisory Board, which addresses matters of advocacy on behalf of transgender people in the areas of education, community awareness, and empowerment, and makes recommendations to the West Hollywood City Council. Through its Transgender Advisory Board, the city cosponsors programming,  including a job fair organized by the Los Angeles LGBT Center’s Transgender Economic Empowerment Project in order to connect transgender women and men with employment resources and opportunities. For information, visit weho.org/email.