Press Release
The Diversity Center Sues Trump Administration
Over Recent Executive Order
(Santa Cruz, CA, November 3, 2020)
Last night, The Diversity Center of Santa Cruz County filed a lawsuit against President Trump and his administration.
The lawsuit challenges the Trump administration’s recent executive order that prohibits federal contractors and grantees from conducting workplace diversity trainings or engaging in grant-funded work that explicitly acknowledges and confronts the existence of structural racism and sexism in our society.
The Executive Order, issued September 22, 2020, and later Trump administration guidance labels the discussion of intersectionality, critical race theory, white privilege, systemic racism, or implicit or unconscious bias in diversity training as “race and sex scapegoating” and forbids agencies from “promot[ing]” these “divisive concepts.”
The Diversity Center is an LGBTQ+ community center located in Santa Cruz, CA, on California’s Central Coast. Founded in 1989, The Center is the chief agency in the county promoting social justice, enhancing the health and well-being, and building a sense of community for LGBTQ+ people. The Diversity Center conducts diversity trainings for local businesses, community based organizations, healthcare workers and law enforcement. The Diversity Center also operates several federal grant programs to serve the LGBTQ+ community of Santa Cruz county.
“We at The Diversity Center offer diversity training specifically to help people in businesses and organizations understand the spectrum of gender and sexuality, key terminology, and inclusive language, increase awareness of specific issues, myths, and barriers for LGBTQ+ people, and learn practical actions to embrace and celebrate diversity,” said Sharon Esther Papo, Executive Director, The Diversity Center. “These invaluable trainings are put at great risk by this executive order.”
Lambda Legal filed the lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California on behalf of The Diversity Center and six organizational plaintiffs, a consulting company, and an individual plaintiff. The organizational plaintiffs include LGBT Centers, an advocacy and service organization for LGBT seniors, and HIV/AIDS health and advocacy organizations from across the country.
The lawsuit is The Diversity Center v. Trump. Read the complaint here: https://www.lambdalegal.org/in-court/legal-docs/diversity_ca_20201103_complaint
More about the clients is available here: https://www.lambdalegal.org/the-diversity-center-v-trump_plaintiffs
For more information, contact:
Sharon Papo
Executive Director
The Diversity Center of Santa Cruz County
Cell: (831) 345-2056
director@diversitycenter.org
Tom Warnke
Media Relations Director
Lambda Legal
(213) 841-4503
twarnke@lambdalegal.org