The Arizona Disciples Anti-Racism/Pro-Reconciliation Team invites you to a series of conversations centered around recent executive orders. Join us on the following dates for each conversation.
Register for the Zoom conversations at https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/odKiHEMzS8Ohn4SxObJDxg
June 10 at 7:00 P.M. – Topic: Climate
Click here to download the slideshow.
Additional links shared during the conversation:
- List with links to selected environment-related executive orders and memoranda: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1YGGp1fP2VV4Wztqz3uvEuO-_BljZsNKClvORG4DblJ0/edit?usp=sharing
- Government website that publishes all executive orders: https://www.federalregister.gov/presidential-documents/executive-orders/donald-trump/2025
June 17 at 7:00 P.M. – Topic: Immigration
Documents from conversation:
June 24 at 7:00 P.M. – Topic: Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Accessibility (DEIA)
July 1 at 7:00 P.M. – Topic: LGBTQIA+
Executive Orders Affecting Transgender Persons Handout
Article links:
SCOTUS orders judges to reconsider protections for trans people
https://www.advocate.com/news/scotus-erode-transgender-protections
Justices called for appeals courts in Idaho, North Carolina, Oklahoma, and West Virginia to reconsider decisions that affirmed protections for individuals whose gender identity does not align with the one assigned at birth.
The move happened less than two weeks after the high court in itsU.S. v. Skrmetti ruling upheld a Tennessee law banning gender-affirming hormone treatments and puberty blockers for transgender minors, ruling the restrictionsdo not violate the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment.
Opinion | I’m Not the Person You’d Expect to Oppose Trump’s Ban on Transgender Troops – The New York Times
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/06/30/opinion/transgender-military-ban-resignation.html
The executive order barring transgender troops is a legal command that provides cover for bigotry. It delivers hate in the guise of a national security issue, dressed up in medicalized language.
The meek compliance of military leadership with the ban sends a chilling message to all service members — namely, that our ranks are open only to those who fit a specific ideological mold, regardless of their ability to serve. Equally concerning is the message that military compliance sends to policymakers. If officers accept this kind of unethical order, where does it end? I fear that the White House will ask members of the military to perform increasingly loathsome tasks.
Living Pride – by Rev. Cameron Trimble
https://www.pilotingfaith.org/p/living-pride
The current administration is investing billions—not in education, housing, or healthcare—but in campaigns of cruelty against LGBTQ people. Through policy, media manipulation, and legal strategies like Project 2025, they are reshaping our cultural imagination—trying to make exclusion feel normal, and injustice seem divine.
This month, the Defense Department announced that it will rename a U.S. Navy destroyer that had been named after Harvey Milk, the slain gay rights activist and veteran.1 It was a symbolic and deeply intentional act of erasure. Simultaneously, mentions of LGBTQ leaders and history have been scrubbed from government websites. In one absurd and telling moment, the name of the Enola Gay—the historic WWII aircraft—was removed simply because it contained the word “gay.”2
The recent Supreme Court decision allowing parents to pull children from schools that include LGBTQ stories signals a chilling shift.3 It’s not just censorship—it’s a declaration that some lives are too shameful to be spoken aloud. It’s “Don’t Say Gay” by another name. Behind these policies lie deeper ambitions: to overturn the legal recognition of gay marriage, to re-criminalize difference, to dismantle decades of hard-won protections.
In preparation for the conversations you are invited to explore the Disciples Home Missions Executive Orders Resource List available at https://www.discipleshomemissions.org/resources/executive-orders-resource-list/.
