President Obama Signs Executive Order For LGBT Anti-Discrimination In The Workplace [Update]

It’s official — President Obama has finally signed the LGBT executive that will end discrimination in the work force against those in the LGBT community. After years of making a promise to the community, President Obama has finally made good of his word. This order will act as an anti-discrimination law that will help millions of gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender employees of federal contractors and the government.

According to The Huffington Post, which obtained the executive order in a PDF file, it comes in two parts. One is that it makes it illegal to harass anyone in the LGBT community based on sexual orientation if they are employees of federal contractors, and it also bans discrimination against transgender employees as well.

President Obama isn’t the first presidential figure to stand up for the LGBT community, but he is the first sitting president who has openly supported huge LGBT issues like gay marriage. This kind of executive action that took place in Washington today not only puts a light on the community but it puts an emphasis on action rather than just idly supporting a cause without putting anything into motion.

Before signing the order that would help the LGBT community in the workforce, President Obama said:

“America’s federal contracts should not subsidize discrimination against the American people. I’m going to do what I can with the authority I have to act.”

Fortunately, Obama also didn’t include religious exemption in the order, which was a real fear after the ruling in the Hobby Lobby case. Many feared that Obama’s Employment Non-Discrimination Act would exempt religious based groups from following the order, but fortunately that wasn’t the case. Although there was mounting pressure for Obama to include religious affiliations, the White House said on Friday:

“The president, and the American people, firmly believe that all Americans deserve to be treated with dignity and respect in the workforce.”

This order is effective immediately in the work field.

In 2002, President George W. Bush amended an executive order that would see religiously affiliated federal contractors to prioritize their hirings of those who follow the same religion. President Obama hasn’t changed the language of this order.

This is a huge push in the right direction for the LGBT community and a far cry from the push with the Briggs Initiative. Back in 1978, Prop 6 was being heavily discussed. If passed, it would have banned LGBT teachers from working at California’s public schools. Fortunately, it was the first failure of this kind of movement but riled up a lot of conservatives like Anita Bryant who thought ill of the community and perpetuated horrible stereotypes. Bryant, who headed up the Save Our Children organization in Florida, was a huge critic of the LGBT community. San Francisco political figure Harvey Milk had a heavy hand in making sure those who shared the same views as Bryant would not win.

President Obama first targeted this issue back in 2008 when he vowed to take issue with federal contractors. If anything, this is a fine tuning of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission law which was enforced in the workplace in 2012. Along with race, color, national origin, religion, sex, age, and disability it now includes the discrimination of the LGBT community.

[Image via Martin H. Simon-Pool]