What is the last thing you learned?

I just read about advocacy vs inquiry.  I’ve spent hours today going over current executive orders. Yes, that’s right. I spent my day researching laws and looking for answers to questions that I haven’t even figured out how to ask yet. I worry that I have too many questions and not enough answers but the desire to do something good in the world is real.  I need to ask questions to understand. I want to have discussions. I want to hear your point of view but I also want you to listen to mine. We need to listen and ask questions to grow. Existing in the world as a special needs mom is hard. Existing in the world as a cancer mom is hard. Even existing in the world as a woman can be hard. Navigating disabilities and having to know my kids rights to a free education isn’t easy. Now I feel that I’m worrying about civil rights being slowly phased out. And all of this because I have had to advocate and inquire for the last 8 years. Maybe it’s my anxiety that produces such thought provoking searches. It could definitely be that gnawing gut feeling that sometimes comes along.

Here is what I found today while searching for an answer. Now that DEI efforts are being removed from existence, it feels like some populations of people will be too. I hate to think that this is all about money and power. I went through the winding path that leads to the start of the civil rights movement.  That was less than 100 years ago. What are we doing?

Early DEI efforts included preferential hiring to veterans of the US Civil War and their widows in 1865.[19] In 1876, this was amended to give preference to veterans during a Reduction in Force. In 1921 and 1929, executive orders by Presidents Coolidge and Harding established ten-point preference for veterans towards exams and hiring criteria for federal employment.
In the 1883 landmark Civil Rights Cases, the United States Supreme Court had ruled that Congress did not have the power to prohibit discrimination in the private sector, thus stripping the Civil Rights Act of 1875 of much of its ability to protect civil rights.[7]
In 1936, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed the Randolph-Sheppard Act, which mandated the federal government to give preference to purchase products made by the blind, and established the Committee on Purchases of Blind Made Products. The 1971 Javits–Wagner–O’Day Act[23] expanded the Randolph-Sheppard act and changed the name to The Committee for Purchase from People Who Are Blind or Severely Disabled (now AbilityOne). Blind-made products are used throughout the federal government, and include brands such as Skillcraft, ARC Diversified, Austin Lighthouse, and Ability One.
Executive Order 8802 was an executive order signed by President Franklin D. Roosevelt on June 25, 1941. It prohibited ethnic or racial discrimination in the nation’s defense industry, including in companies, unions, and federal agencies.[1] It also set up the Fair Employment Practice Committee. Executive Order 8802 was the first federal action, though not a law, to promote equal opportunity and prohibit employment discrimination in the United States. It represented the first executive civil rights directive since Reconstruction.[2]
Strong opposition to the bill also came from Senator Strom Thurmond, who was still a Democrat at the time: “This so-called Civil Rights Proposals [sic], which the President has sent to Capitol Hill for enactment into law, are unconstitutional, unnecessary, unwise and extend beyond the realm of reason. This is the worst civil-rights package ever presented to the Congress and is reminiscent of the Reconstruction proposals and actions of the radical Republican Congress.”[32]


Executive Order No. 10479 (18 FR 4899) is a directive by President Dwight Eisenhower that created the Government Contract Committee. Issued on August 13, 1953, the order sought to insure compliance with, and successful execution of, the equal employment opportunity program. Therefore, the United States Government enacted laws to guarantee equal employment opportunity to all employees, so that they receive fair and equitable treatment. The order directs that all qualified candidates seeking employment on government contracts or subcontracts will not be discriminated against due to their race, creed, color, or national origin.[1]
Executive Order 10925, signed by President John F. Kennedy on March 6, 1961, required government contractors, except in special circumstances, to “take affirmative action to ensure that applicants are employed and that employees are treated during employment without regard to their race, creed, color, or national origin”
The Civil Rights Act of 1964 (Pub. L. 88–352, 78 Stat. 241, enacted July 2, 1964) is a landmark civil rights and labor law in the United States that outlaws discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex,[a] and national origin.[4] It prohibits unequal application of voter registration requirements, racial segregation in schools and public accommodations, and employment discrimination. The act “remains one of the most significant legislative achievements in American history”.[5]
Executive Order 11246, signed by President Lyndon B. Johnson, was an executive order of the Article II branch of the United States federal government, in place from 1965 to 2025, specifying non-discriminatory practices and affirmative action in federal government hiring and employment.
Other DEI policies include Affirmative Action.[24] The legal term “affirmative action” was first used in “Executive Order No. 10925”,[25] signed by President John F. Kennedy on 6 March 1961, which included a provision that government contractors “take affirmative action to ensure that applicants are employed, and employees are treated [fairly] during employment, without regard to their race, creed, color, or national origin”.[
Affirmative action (also sometimes called reservations, alternative access, positive discrimination or positive action in various countries’ laws and policies)[a] refers to a set of policies and practices within a government or organization seeking to address systemic discrimination. Historically and internationally, support for affirmative action has been justified by the idea that it may help with bridging inequalities in employment and pay, increasing access to education, and promoting diversity, social equity, and social inclusion and redressing alleged wrongs, harms, or hindrances, also called substantive equality.[8]
On October 13, 1967, Executive Order 11375 by President Lyndon B. Johnson amended Executive Order 11246, adding the category “sex” to the anti-discrimination provisions.
On July 21, 2014, Executive Order 13672 by President Barack Obama amended Executive Order 11246 by President Lyndon B. Johnson and Executive Order 11478 by President Richard M. Nixon, changing “sexual orientation” to “sexual orientation, gender identity”.[10]
Executive Order 13985, officially titled Advancing Racial Equity and Support for Underserved Communities Through the Federal Government, is the first executive order signed by U.S. President Joe Biden on January 20, 2021. It directs the federal government to revise agency policies to account for racial inequities in their implementation. The order also aims to make Federal contracting and procurement opportunities more readily available to all eligible vendors and to remove barriers faced by underserved individuals and communities.

Executive Order 13988, officially titled Preventing and Combating Discrimination on the Basis of Gender Identity or Sexual Orientation, was the fourth executive order signed by U.S. President Joe Biden on January 20, 2021.


Executive Order 14148, titled “Initial Rescissions of Harmful Executive Orders and Actions”, is an executive order signed by United States president Donald Trump on January 20, 2025, during the first day of his second presidential term. The order directed the rescindment of several executive orders enacted during the Biden administration.
The main focus of the order was to rescind DEI policies in the US Government, specific climate and environmental regulations, and certain border policies.
“SEC. 1201. Prohibited diversity, equity, or inclusion practice.
“For purposes of references to this section, the term ‘prohibited diversity, equity, or inclusion practice’ means—
“(1) discriminating for or against any person on the basis of race, color, ethnicity, religion, biological sex, or national origin;
“(2) requiring as a condition of employment, as a condition for promotion or advancement, or as a condition for speaking, making a presentation, or submitting written materials, that an employee undergo training, education, or coursework, or other pedagogy, that asserts that a particular race, color, ethnicity, religion, biological sex, or national origin is inherently or systemically superior or inferior, oppressive or oppressed, or privileged or unprivileged; or
“(3) requiring as a condition of employment, as a condition for promotion or advancement, or as a condition for speaking, making a presentation, or submitting written materials, the signing of or assent to a statement, code of conduct, work program, or plan, or similar device that requires assent by the employee that a particular race, color, ethnicity, religion, biological sex, or national origin is inherently or systemically superior or inferior, oppressive or oppressed, or privileged or unprivileged.”.
Trump updates the Civil Rights Act of 1964, defining DEI practices as those “discriminating for or against any person on the basis of race, color, ethnicity, religion, biological sex, or national origin.”
DEI practices would also include workplace requirements to assent to claims “that a particular race, color, ethnicity, religion, biological sex, or national origin is inherently or systemically superior or inferior, oppressive or oppressed, or privileged or unprivileged,” as well as key trainings advancing such claims.




Has section 503 been removed?


Section 503 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973


Section 503 prohibits federal contractors and subcontractors from discriminating in employment against individuals with disabilities and requires employers to take affirmative steps to recruit, hire, promote, and retain individuals with disabilities. The EEOC developed regulations that govern coordination between EEOC and the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP) at the U.S. Department of Labor on Section 503 matters. For more information, contact OFCCP at the U.S. Department of Labor.
If section 503 is removed, then aren’t those protections lost?