Dem Lawmakers to Obama: Sign Federal Contractor Executive Order
In a letter sent by Reps. Frank Pallone (D-N.J.), Lois Capps (D-Calif.), Barney Frank (D-Mass.) and 69 other lawmakers to President Obama today, the Democratic lawmakers — including all four out LGBT lawmakers — ask Obama to sign an executive order that would protect employees of federal contractors from discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity.
In part, they ask the president:
[W]e are writing to ask that you sign an executive order that would prohibit federal contractors from discriminating in the workplace based on an individual’s sexual orientation or gender identity. This order would extend important workplace protections to millions of Americans, while at the same time laying the groundwork for Congressional passage of the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA), a goal that we share with you.
They also note:
[R]ecent polling shows that the American public would support this executive order. A second poll from [the Center for American Progress], for example, found that approximately three out of four likely 2012 voters support protecting LGBT individuals from workplace discrimination. Further, this poll showed that the support for such protections transcends partisan, age and religious lines.
Tico Almeida, founder of Freedom to Work, said that he has been in contact with several Republican offices who are interested in the executive order but that this specific letter — particularly its opening — was too supportive of Obama for them to sign on to it.
READ the letter: LGBT Workplace Non-Discrimination EO Letter To President Obama.pdf
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