The coronavirus outbreak is pummeling LGBTQ+ Americans, especially those of color, leaving a population already vulnerable to health care and employment discrimination devastated from high job losses and a growing rate of positive cases.

There is a long history of discrimination against LGBTQ+ people in the health care system. LGBTQ+ people are twice as likely to be uninsured, 1 in 4 face wide discrimination when trying to access healthcare, and those who face discrimination are 3 times more likely to not go to the doctor.

The results of discrimination put the LGBTQ+ community at a terribly high risk during this national health emergency. All of who we are should be protected against discrimination all of the time...especially in healthcare where discriminatory actions have life or death consequences.

Yet now, in the middle of this global pandemic, Trump has viciously and senselessly attacked the LGBTQ+ community once again by rolling back health care discrimination protections for LGBTQ+ people.

The coronavirus pandemic has provided convenient cover for conservatives to enact several anti-LGBTQ+ political priorities while the nation’s attention is on the virus, including at the state and federal agency levels. These despicable political moves under the cover of a national health and economic emergency are costing people their lives!

There is no excuse for this continued discrimination! Lives are being lost! During the coronavirus pandemic we MUST demand that everyone have equal access to healthcare, protective gear, and programs to assist workers unable to maintain their jobs due to stay at home orders.

Congress must enact measures to prohibit discrimination in the treatment and prevention of the novel coronavirus. We need a clear, strong, and public stand against any discrimination in this pandemic, whether based on sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, race, ethnicity, national origin, immigration status, religion, or disability!