Obama strengthens gay, transgender workplace rights

WASHINGTON (AFP) – US President Barack
Obama signed an executive order Monday
outlawing federal employment discrimination
based on gender identity and strengthening
other LGBT protections.
Supporters of expanded anti-bias protections
for members of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and
transgender communities have sought legal
action for years, but in the absence of
legislative moves by Congress, the president
exercised his executive authority to end certain
discriminations.
Obama’s order prohibits sexual orientation-
related discrimination by companies that
contract with the federal government, a move
affecting firms that employ millions.
“America’s federal contracts should not
subsidize discrimination against the American
people,” Obama said shortly before signing the
order.
“It doesn’t make much sense, but today in
America, millions of our fellow citizens wake
up and go to work with the awareness that
they could lose their job, not because of
anything they do or fail to do, but because of
who they are — lesbian, gay, bisexual,
transgender,” Obama said.
“And that’s wrong. We’re here to do what we
can to make it right — to bend that arc of
justice just a little bit in a better direction.”
The federal government already bars
discrimination based on race, origin, gender,
religion, age, and sexual orientation.
“Once I sign this order, the same will be
explicitly true for gender identity,” Obama said
to applause at a White House signing
ceremony.
“We’re on the right side of history.”
To the relief of some rights groups, Obama did
not include new religious exemptions in the
order that were called for by religious leaders.
“Obama’s unwillingness to add religious
exemptions sends a strong message that
religious beliefs should never be used to
justify discrimination,” said Graeme Reid,
LGBT rights director at Human Rights Watch.
No federal law currently prohibits an employer
from sacking someone because of his sexual
orientation, although 18 of the nation’s 50
states have adopted state laws to that effect.
Obama said activists and others should
continue to pressure US lawmakers “to pass
federal legislation that resolves this problem
once and for all.”
Executive orders can be repealed by future
administrations