Ivanka Trump and her husband are believed to be behind the White House’s decision to put an anti-LGBT executive order on hold, according to .
LGBT+ advocacy groups were anticipating a rollback of President Obama’s historic 2014 order that prohibited federal contractors from discriminating on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity.
However, the White House released a statement last Tuesday, saying the order would remain intact.
“President Donald J. Trump is determined to protect the rights of all Americans, including the LGBTQ community. President Trump continues to be respectful and supportive of LGBTQ rights, just as he was throughout the election,” read the statement.
Sources close to Ivanka Trump and her husband Jared Kushner say the couple used their influence in the White House to prevent the order from being signed.
The Modern Orthodox Jewish couple is based in New York and socialise within the city’s progressive LGBT circles.
Sources say the US President’s daughter was wary that there would be a significant backlash if the anticipated order was signed.
While some Twitter users praised Ivanka Trump for blocking the order, others questioned her motives.
Since the White House released the statement that appeared to assure the public of Trump’s commitment to protecting the LGBT+ community’s rights—White House staff have downplayed how close the measure was to being signed, saying the anti-LGBT+ order would never have reached the desk of the President.
“Part of it is, the president does all the time, he asks for input, he asks for ideas, and on a variety of subjects there are staffing procedures that go on where people have a thought or an idea and it goes through the process,” said White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer.
However, there are still grave concerns that President Trump will sign a ‘religious freedom’ order that would allow people to discriminate against the LGBT+ community in the name of their faith.
Religious groups are still adamant that the Trump administration will sign such an order.
“I feel confident that they have an appreciation of religious freedom, and I’m pretty certain they’re going to address it. I’m talking to people in the Trump administration, and I know they understand the importance of this,” says Tony Perkins, CEO of the Family Research Council.
The news of Ivanka's White House intervention comes just as her fashion line was dropped from US department store, Nordstrom.
