President Trump will sign a “religious freedom” executive order on Thursday, two senior administration officials confirmed to Politico.
The long rumored executive order, which would allow for discrimination against the LGBTQ community and others, provided someone can cite a firmly held religious belief, has been expected since the beginning of Trump’s tenure in the White House.
A leaked draft shows how damaging the order could be to the LGBTQ community. It is not uncommon for various drafts to be written up before one is settled upon, and sources told Politico that lawyers are currently reviewing and fine-tuning the legislation to make sure it can pass a legal challenge.
Thursday is the National Day of Prayer, which the White House was already planning to mark with various faith leaders.
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The administration said in January that such an order “isn’t the plan at this time,” but stopped short of saying they would not go through with it at some point.
Trump stressed the need for “religious freedom” during his speech at the National Prayer Breakfast in February.