Executive Order On LGBT Job Discrimination Being Drafted by Obama Administration

The LGBT community and advocates and the rest of the country await the signing by President Obama of an executive order giving protection to members of the LGBT community against job discrimination that is now being drafted.

President Barack Obama has directed his staff to draft an executive order that would ban workplace discrimination against lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender employees of federal contractors, a White House official told The Huffington Post.The move is the clearest indication to date that the administration is prepared to take action on LGBT rights where Congress has fallen short. Read more at:

It seems that this is news being intentionally leaked so as to warn lawmakers that they have a limited window to pass more sweeping workplace discrimination legislation before he acts without them, according to the aforementioned article.

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 protections will reach over one million LGBT workers across the country, making it the single largest expansion of LGBT workplace protections in our country’s history. Read more here:

This is just right for the President to do and it is high time he should. He is within legal bounds to issue such an executive order that is meant to benefit LGBT workers in the absence of supportive action from lawmakers themselves, and the best he can do without the ENDA. 

Although some, like John Boehner, argue that the Civil Rights Act already protects individuals against this type of discrimination, it is currently technically legal to fire individuals because they identify as LGBT in 32 states. See here

Thus, the signing of this executive order that ensures LGBT workers are given equal job opportunities, and not indiscriminately fired from work, is such a welcome move.