Photo: Barack Obama. Credit: Official White House Photo by Pete Souza.
President Barack Obama addressed his decision to sign an executive order prohibiting federal contractors from LGBT workplace discrimination for the first time Tuesday evening, while stating that pressure must continue to be applied to Congress to pass comprehensive federal legislation protecting all workers.
“We’ve got to keep fighting for equality in the workplace. Right now there are more states that allow same-sex marriage than there are states that prohibit discrimination against LGBT workers. Think about that,” Obama said at the Democratic National Committee’s LGBT Gala in New York City.
“We have laws that say Americans can’t be fired from their jobs because of the color of their skin or for their religion or because of a disability,” Obama continued. “But every day, millions of Americans go to work knowing that they could lose their job, not because of anything they did, but because of who they are. That is not right. It is wrong.”
Noting the passage of the Employment Non-Discrimination Act with a 64-32 vote last November, Obama chided the Republican-controlled House of Representatives for, “shockingly enough,” refusing to act and bring the bill to the floor for a vote.
“We don’t benefit as a country or an economy — businesses don’t benefit if they’re leaving talent off the field. And that’s why I’ve directed my staff to prepare for my signature, an executive order prohibiting discrimination by federal contractors on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity,” Obama said to a roar of applause from the packed ballroom at Gotham Hall. “Because in the United States of America, who you are and who you love shouldn’t be a fireable offense.”
Obama’s remarks come one day after the White House announced that after years of delay Obama would finally act to prohibit federal contractors from LGBT workplace discrimination — a move long sought by LGBT-rights advocates that builds upon Obama’s legacy as the strongest LGBT ally to ever occupy the White House.
And although ENDA has continued to gain bipartisan support in the House as recently as last week, it seems increasingly unlikely that it, or other progressive legislation, will move forward in the current Congress. A political operative close to ENDA strategy in the House told Metro Weekly that the surprising primary defeat of House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.) last week by a tea party challenger “has complicated the landscape and definitely put progressive issues in peril.”
Despite that prognosis, Obama said ENDA supporters must continue to keep pressure on Congress to act.
“It would be better, by the way, if Congress passed a more comprehensive law that didn’t just cover federal contractors,” Obama said Tuesday. “And we need to keep working on that, so don’t take the pressure off Congress. This seems to be a pattern these days. Everybody has just given up so much on Congress that we end up doing something through executive order. And that’s helpful, but it doesn’t reach everybody that needs to be reached. Congress needs to start working again.”
During his remarks Tuesday, Obama did not indicate when he will sign the executive order, although the White House’s annual LGBT Pride Month reception is scheduled for June 30. Speaking to reporters Monday aboard Air Force One, principal deputy White House press secretary Josh Earnest said the specific details of the order have not yet been finalized. LGBT-rights advocates are expected to meet at the White House Thursday to discuss the executive order.
Yeshiva University announced that it had reached a settlement with an LGBTQ student-run club that the university, for years, had refused to recognize as an official campus organization.
In the surprise move, the Orthodox Jewish educational institution said that it would end litigation related to its refusal to recognize the group, which it initially claimed was due to religious objections.
As part of the settlement, the club -- formerly known as the Yeshiva University Pride Alliance -- would be renamed "Hareni" and would be allowed to operate with the same rights and privileges guaranteed to other student groups.
Several corporate sponsors of San Francisco Pride, including beer giant Anheuser-Busch, have pulled their funding for the celebration's annual festivities.
Over the past four weeks, the companies have informed organizers of San Francisco Pride that they would not be able to support 2025 Pride, claiming a lack of funds as the reason.
None of the companies cited the political climate, but Suzanne Ford, the executive director of San Francisco Pride, said that it was "very abnormal" for several multi-year sponsors to drop their support.
"I just interpreted that companies are making decisions that at this time it’s not good to be sponsoring Pride," Ford told SFGATE magazine, alluding to decisions by several major corporations to abandon diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives.
Thanks to the Trump administration, policing gender is becoming the norm -- and it's about much more than trans women.
By Riki Wilchins
March 29, 2025
A Tucson Walmart called the police on a Black "stud"-identified lesbian last month, claiming a man had entered the women's room.
The two male Pima County sheriff's deputies accosted 19-year-old Kalaya Morton just after she had used a tampon and while she was in the stall still trying to pee.
They demanded that she come out immediately, which she was unable to do. Even after she finished her business and exited the stall, lifting her shirt to show the two men that she was a cisgender woman, one of the male deputies still complained that Kalaya "looked like a man."
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