Children’s Hospital Los Angeles Halts Transgender Care Under Pressure from Trump, Sonja Sharp, Los Angeles Times

On June 25, 2025, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) terminated New York Administrative Judge Karen Ortiz for publicly opposing President Donald Trump’s executive order, signed on January 20, 2025, which defines male and female as two “immutable” sexes. Ortiz, who worked in the EEOC’s New York office, criticized the order as “unethical” in a February email to over 1,000 colleagues, urging Acting Chair Andrea Lucas, a Trump appointee, to resign for complying with the directive by pausing legal cases involving transgender workers’ discrimination claims. The EEOC dropped at least seven such cases and prioritized new gender identity-related cases as low priority, marking a shift from its prior stance on civil rights protections.

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Ortiz continued to challenge the agency’s actions, including sending an April 24 email with a link to the song “Everybody Wants to Rule the World,” which she sent to Lucas and internal groups. She argued that the EEOC’s policies created a hostile environment for LGBTQIA+ workers and abandoned its core mission. The EEOC placed Ortiz on administrative leave last month and fired her on Tuesday, citing her “distasteful and unprofessional” conduct and the negative impact of her leaked emails on the agency’s reputation, as noted in a six-page termination notice by Chief Administrative Judge Regina Stephens.

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Ortiz, hired during Trump’s first administration, contested her termination, asserting she was upholding her oath by calling out illegal agency actions. She expressed sadness but not surprise at her firing, stating the EEOC had “lost its way.” Ortiz plans to continue advocating for civil rights, particularly for the LGBTQ community, and emphasized the importance of staying true to one’s values over job security. The EEOC declined to comment, citing personnel matters. This case highlights tensions between federal policy shifts and internal agency dissent on civil rights issues.

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Source: The Hill, June 25, 2025

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