Story highlights HRC legal director: "Donald Trump just let the fox into the henhouse"

The order fulfills a Trump campaign promise

(CNN) President Donald Trump campaigned on being a "real friend" to the gay community, but several LGBT rights organizations said the religious liberty executive order he signed Thursday could open the doors for more discrimination against gay Americans.

The order, signed during a ceremony in the White House Rose Garden, directs the Internal Revenue Service to exercise "maximum enforcement discretion" over the so-called Johnson amendment, which prevents churches and other tax-exempt religious organizations from endorsing or opposing political candidates. The order also provides "regulatory relief" for organizations that object on religious grounds to a provision in Obamacare that mandates employers provide certain health services, including coverage for contraception.

A message left with the White House asking what assurances the administration could offer LGBT Americans anxious over the order was not immediately returned Thursday.

But the head of the Congressional LGBT Equality Caucus, a group consisting of gay lawmakers and their allies, worries that the administration will use the order to harm gay Americans.

"The LGBT Equality Caucus will remain vigilant for any attempt to undermine the hard-fought gains our community has made in the past decade," Executive Director Roddy Flynn told CNN Thursday. "We plan on closely monitoring the implementation and interpretation of the executive order."

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