Last week, Donald Trump was about to sign off on an 'Religious Freedom' draft executive order that would threaten a bit of anti-discrimination protection for the LGBT community and allow individuals and organisations to refer to religious objections to same-sex marriage, gender identity and abortion.
Now, it's been alleged Ivanka Trump and her husband Jared Kushner played a pivotal role in preventing President Trump from signing the executive order.
The policy, entitled 'Establishing a Government-Wide Initiative to Respect Religious Freedom' – which was obtained by The Investigative Fund and The Nation – reportedly would have rolled back Barack Obama's 2014 protection order on LGBTQ and women's rights.
However, according to the Independent, the White House have released a statement revealing the order will not be issued, and asserted Trump would continue to be 'respectful and supportive of LGBTQ rights' and keep the former's president's protections in place.
'The executive order signed in 2014, which protects employees from anti-LGBT workplace discrimination while working for federal contractors, will remain intact at the direction of President Donald J Trump,' read the statement.
According to Politico, we have Trump's eldest daughter and son-in-law, senior adviser Jared Kushner, to thank for persuading President Trump to scrap the executive order.
Sources close to the couple, who have a record of supporting gay rights, said Ivanka and Jared pushed back against the draft executive order and urged the President to make a statement, promising to uphold Obama's protections.
A source told Politico: 'There are some in Trump's family that have some views on these things. That's where the decision is ultimately being made.'
The White House are thought to have downplayed the quick change of plan, after a White House official told Politico that some executive orders 'are real, some are drafts of things people like, and some are ideas people from outside have suggested'.
While Trump's nepotism and conflict of interest in hiring close family members and former business partners is questionable, we're quite relieved Ivanka and her husband were there to put a stop to a potentially threatening human rights and homophobic executive order.
Katie O'Malley is the Site Director on ELLE UK. On a daily basis you’ll find Katie managing all digital workflow, editing site, video and newsletter content, liaising with commercial and sales teams on new partnerships and deals (eg Nike, Tiffany & Co., Cartier etc), implementing new digital strategies and compiling in-depth data traffic, SEO and ecomm reports. In addition to appearing on the radio and on TV, as well as interviewing everyone from Oprah Winfrey to Rishi Sunak PM, Katie enjoys writing about lifestyle, culture, wellness, fitness, fashion, and more.
