How Jared and Ivanka Pushed Back Against the Christian Right

Image by Getty Images

By Nathan Guttman February 3, 2017

Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump may have a new role in Donald Trump’s White House – a counterweight to Christian conservatives trying to sway the president’s agenda to the right.

Politico reports that the first daughter and son-in-law led the charge to scuttle a proposed executive order rolling back the Obama administration’s rules on LGBTQ rights, which protect employees from LGBTQ discrimination while working for federal contractors. The couple was the driving force behind Trump’s decision to ignore the proposed executive order draft and to issue a statement pledging adherence to Obama’s 2014 policy.

The debate over Trump’s LGBT policy is shaping into a battle between the Christian conservative forces, including the Family Research Council, and the young Jewish couple known for their support of LGBT rights.

“There are some in Trump’s family that have some views on these things,” a source close to the discussions told Politico. “That’s where the decision is ultimately being made.”

At the end of the day, Kushner and Trump got their way on Obama’s 2014 order, but according to the report, religious conservatives are still pushing the White House on other aspects of LGBTQ policy, such as broadening religious exemptions that would shield providers of health care or adoption services who don’t want to serve gay or transgender people.

Contact Nathan Guttman at guttman@forward.com

Nathan Guttman, staff writer, was the Forward’s Washington bureau chief. He joined the staff in 2006 after serving for five years as Washington correspondent for the Israeli dailies Haaretz and The Jerusalem Post. In Israel, he was the features editor for Ha’aretz and chief editor of Channel 1 TV evening news. He was born in Canada and grew up in Israel. He is a graduate of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

A message from our CEO & publisher Rachel Fishman Feddersen

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you move on, I wanted to ask you to support the Forward’s award-winning journalism during our High Holiday Monthly Donor Drive.

This year, we have stood together in strength and sorrow. Our Forward team has worked around the clock to help you find clarity amid the chaos.

If you’ve turned to the Forward in the past 12 months to better understand the world around you, we hope you will support us with a gift now. Your support has a direct impact, giving us the resources we need to report from Israel and around the U.S., across college campuses, and wherever there is news of importance to American Jews.

Make a monthly or one-time gift and support Jewish journalism throughout 5785. The first six months of your monthly gift will be matched for twice the investment in independent Jewish journalism.

— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO