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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsObama Administration Announces Executive Order Protecting LGBT Employees Of Federal Contractors
By Zack Ford
The White House is expected to announce Monday that President Obama will issue an executive order requiring that all companies who contract with the federal government must not discriminate on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity. The order, expected to be finalized in the coming weeks, is an extension of orders previously issued by past presidents most recently Johnson similarly banning employment discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, or national origin among all contractors and subcontractors who do over $10,000 in business with the government in any one year.
The protections will reach over one million LGBT workers across the country, making it the single largest expansion of LGBT workplace protections in our countrys history. There continue to be 29 states that offer no employment protections on the basis of sexual orientation and 32 with no protections based on gender identity, but many LGBT workers in those states will now have workplace protections for the first time ever. As many as 43 percent of lesbian, gay, and bisexual people and 90 percent of transgender people have experienced some form of harassment or discrimination in the workplace.
One of the largest companies that could be impacted by the executive order is Exxon Mobil, which last month voted down LGBT employment protections for the 17th time. The company claims to have a zero tolerance policy on the books for mistreatment, but that does not have the same legal force or consistency as the protections shareholders have voted down each year. Exxon is also facing an anti-gay discrimination lawsuit, although that suit might be terminated for jurisdictional reasons.
As many as 9 out of 10 voters believe federal law already protects LGBT workers from discrimination. Though this isnt true, many of the countrys biggest companies do already have corporate policies prohibiting such discrimination. Businesses of all sizes have found that nondiscrimination protections are good for their bottom line, improving the recruitment, retention, and productivity of talented employees and appealing to a wider customer base. A new Human Rights Campaign poll finds that 63 percent of voters support federal LGBT employment protections.
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http://thinkprogress.org/lgbt/2014/06/16/3449270/obama-lgbt-executive-order/
ProSense
(116,464 posts)WASHINGTONThe White House today announced the Presidents intention to issue an executive order that would ban workplace discrimination against lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender employees of federal contractors.
ACLU Executive Director Anthony D. Romero had this comment:
"This is a historic announcement. President Obamas commitment to LGBT equality will be one of his lasting legacies. This President has done more for the struggle for LGBT equality than all previous presidents combined. For more than 70 years, presidents, both Democratic and Republican, have used executive orders to eradicate taxpayer-funded discrimination in the workplace. Issuing this executive order will build upon a tradition that dates back to President Roosevelts 1941 order conditioning defense contracts on an agreement not to discriminate based on race, creed, color, or national origin. Barring discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity with taxpayer funds by all federal contractors will begin to undo one of the last vestiges of legally sanctioned discrimination."
https://www.aclu.org/lgbt-rights/white-house-issue-executive-order-barring-lgbt-discrimination-federal-contractors
ProSense
(116,464 posts)Big news.
ProSense
(116,464 posts)Initech
(100,129 posts)Thanks for commenting.
msanthrope
(37,549 posts)sheshe2
(84,005 posts)Thank you Obama for moving us forward despite the do nothing Congress.
Excellent news for LGBT employment protections!
Thanks PS.
Cali_Democrat
(30,439 posts)Cha
(297,935 posts)ProSense
(116,464 posts)seems the President is serving cans of STFU to Republicans.
By Steve Benen
Despite the fact that President Obama has issued fewer executive orders than any modern president, congressional Republicans tend to include these orders in their indictment against the White House. Obamas willingness to use executive orders in response to congressional intransigence, GOP officials argue, is emblematic of an out-of-control tyrant.
With this in mind, yesterday offered a unique opportunity. The White House announced its preparing an executive order protecting LGBT Americans from employment discrimination among business that contract with the government. For the right, its a story that checked a lot of boxes: an executive order on gay rights that regulates the private sector.
Obama effectively painted a bulls eye, inviting Republican apoplexy. And yet, crickets.
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http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/gop-bites-its-tongue-gay-rights-executive-order
From Benghazi to Obamacare, Republicans have nothing valid to say.
The Republican mumbling over the Benghazi-related capture is pure comedy.
Cha
(297,935 posts)piece, ProSense. Always nice to read his take..
from your link.. Aha this is there own special way of reaching out.. lol
"Rather, the point is that the political winds have changed to such an extent that Republicans no longer see this issue as an electoral winner. In 2004, GOP officials, from George W. Bush to U.S. House candidates, still saw gay rights as such an effective wedge issue, they spent much of the year touting an anti-gay amendment to the Constitution.
A decade later, Republicans can read a poll just as well as anyone else, and its become obvious to them that gay bashing simply doesnt help the party the way it used to.
Update: Both Boehners office and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnells office specifically turned down a chance to comment on the presidents executive order."
Thanks!