The White House is soon to announce an executive order banning federal contractors from discriminating on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity.
Translated: Workplace equality for LGBT employees among all contractors and subcontractors who do business with the government. ($10,000 or more in business yearly, to be exact — so that includes corporate giants like Exxon Mobil.)
In the past Obama has refused to sign such an executive order because he said he wanted ENDA to be the path to workplace equality, meaning this is an important change of heart and change of policy:
The comments were in contrast to the administration’s stance against signing an executive order to bar federal contractors from discriminating against LGBT workers and job applicants, despite Obama having said he would support protecting such workers in a questionnaire filled out while a candidate in 2008.
The Obama administration has maintained in the past that the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA) is its preferred path for LGBT workplace protections, but Monday’s announcement signals an acknowledgement that, despite Senate passage last fall, the bill is not likely to move in the House this year.
Workplace equality is one of the major frontiers of the LGBT movement that we don’t talk a lot about, but that affects MILLIONS of people. This particular order affects at least one million of them, and that is really huge. Thank you, Obama.
BREAKING: White House to issue executive order banning anti-LGBT workplace discrimination by federal contractors: