Andrea Lucas, President Donald Trump's nominee for acting chair of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), has pledged to prioritize the elimination of unlawful Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) practices in workplaces.
Lucas emphasized her commitment to addressing various forms of discrimination, stating, "Consistent with the Presidents Executive Orders and priorities, my priorities will include rooting out unlawful DEI-motivated race and sex discrimination; protecting American workers from anti-American national origin discrimination; defending the biological and binary reality of sex and related rights, including womens rights to single-sex spaces at work; protecting workers from religious bias and harassment, including antisemitism; and remedying other areas of recent under-enforcement."
As reported by Fox News, Lucas, who was appointed as a commissioner to the EEOC in 2020 during Trump's first term, has been serving in this capacity since then. The EEOC is the sole federal agency with the authority to investigate and litigate against private companies and employers over employment discrimination.
Lucas expressed her gratitude for the appointment, saying, "I am honored to be chosen by President Trump to lead the EEOC, our nations premier civil rights agency enforcing federal employment anti-discrimination laws. I look forward to restoring evenhanded enforcement of employment civil rights laws for all Americans. In recent years, this agency has remained silent in the face of multiple forms of widespread, overt discrimination."
President Trump, upon assuming office as the 47th president, enacted several executive orders, including those targeting DEI initiatives. His executive order criticized the Biden Administration for implementing DEI programs across federal sectors, stating, "The Biden Administration forced illegal and immoral discrimination programs, going by the name diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI), into virtually all aspects of the Federal Government, in areas ranging from airline safety to the military."
The order further declared, "That ends today. Americans deserve a government committed to serving every person with equal dignity and respect, and to expending precious taxpayer resources only on making America great."
Lucas echoed Trump's sentiments, advocating for a rejection of identity politics within federal and broader contexts. She asserted, "Our employment civil rights laws are a matter of individual rights. We must reject the twin lies of identity politics: that justice is measured by group outcomes and that civil rights exist solely to remedy harms against certain groups."
Lucas is determined to ensure that the EEOC welcomes all individuals equally, reinforcing the principle that "all people are created equal. I am committed to ensuring equal justice under the law and to focusing on equal opportunity, merit, and colorblind equality."
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