Summary
Karen Ortiz, an Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) administrative judge, defied Trump administration policies limiting LGBTQ+ protections by urging colleagues to resist “illegal mandates.”
After sending a mass email criticizing leadership, her email was deleted, and she faced disciplinary action.
Ortiz’s stand gained widespread online support but little public backing from colleagues, who fear retaliation. Experts say federal employees often stay silent to protect their jobs.
Ortiz, prepared for potential fallout, sees her actions as protected whistleblower activity and remains committed to civil rights advocacy, regardless of her job security.
I mean to an outsider- the Red, Pink Lavender, Scares, McCarthyism, slavery, war on drugs, terrorism, citizens united, world police, Vietnam, jim crow/segregation, prohibition, womens suffrage, strikebreaking, company towns… are all examples of freedoms being restricted by the government and applauded by the press and culture at large at the time, and later reflected on as a terrible thing.
Civil Disobedience has always been anti-American.
I’m from a company town. I had no idea that was ever seen as a bad thing. Locally, we saw it as a source of pride. Never heard anything bad about it.