Lawmakers on Capitol Hill will urge President Barack Obama to sign an executive order prohibiting federal contractors from LGBT workplace discrimination in a letter expected to be sent later this month.
With the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA) having hit a wall in the Republican-controlled House of Representatives after passage in the Senate last year, members of the House and Senate will call on Obama to fulfill a promise made in his State of the Union address to make this a “year of action.”
“As we continue to work towards final passage of the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA) with strong bipartisan support, we urge you to take action now to protect millions of workers across the country from the threat of discrimination simply because of who they are or who they love,” the bicameral letter states. “We are committed to doing all that we can in Congress to get ENDA to your desk this year; however, there is no reason you cannot immediately act by taking this important step.”
Sens. Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.), Tom Harkin (D-Iowa) and Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.) are circulating the letter in the Senate with members of the LGBT Equality Caucus, including Rep. Mike Michaud (D-Maine), circulating the letter in the House.
“In the absence of Congressional action, the President should follow the example of strong anti-discrimination laws in Maine and other states to ensure that no one in the federal workplace is discriminated against because of who they are or who they love,” said Michaud, who recently came out as gay and is running for governor of Maine. “Executive action by the President would be a significant first step, but the House still needs to act to ensure workplace protections are available to all Americans.”
Although Obama promised to sign such an executive order as a candidate for president in 2008, the White House has backpedaled on that promise and has repeatedly said the administration supports passage of ENDA rather than an executive order. ENDA supporters and LGBT-rights groups are largely united in supporting both. After vowing to take executive action on key issues if Congress won’t act, the White House has found itself in a contradictory position on its opposition to an executive order for LGBT federal contractors.
According to the letter that will be sent to Obama, signing such an executive order would “build on the significant progress for LGBT rights made during your time as President and would further your legacy as a champion for LGBT equality.”
Read the full text of the letter:
Dear Mr. President,
We are writing to urge you to fulfill the promise in your State of the Union address to make this a “year of action” and build upon the momentum of 2013 by signing an executive order banning federal contractors from engaging in employment discrimination against lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) Americans. As you have said before, “now is the time to end this kind of discrimination, not enable it.”
As we continue to work towards final passage of the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA) with strong bipartisan support, we urge you to take action now to protection millions of workers across the country from the threat of discrimination simply because of who they are or who they love. We are committed to doing all that we can in Congress to get ENDA to your desk this year; however, there is no reason you cannot immediately act by taking this important step. This executive order would provide LGBT people with another avenue in the federal government they could turn to if they were the victim of employment discrimination by a federal contractor. When combined with ENDA, these non-discrimination protections would parallel those that have been in place for decades on the basis of race, sex and religion.
An executive order covering LGBT employees would be in line with a bipartisan, decades-long commitment to eradicating taxpayer-funded discrimination in the workplace. In 1941, President Roosevelt prohibited discrimination in defense contracts on the bases of race, creed, color, or national origin. In subsequent executive orders, Presidents Roosevelt, Truman, Eisenhower, Kennedy, and Johnson expanded these protections to ensure that taxpayer dollars are not used to discriminate.
In addition, most of the largest government contractors – companies like Boeing, Raytheon, and Lockheed Martin – have LGBT non-discrimination policies in place. They adopted them because business leaders recognize that discrimination is bad for the bottom line.
Finally, time is of the essence. Even with an executive order in place, full implementation of these protections will require regulations to be developed and finalized, a process that will take many months, if not longer, to fully put in place.
Issuing an executive order prohibiting discrimination against LGBT workers in federal contracts would build on the significant progress for LGBT rights made during your time as President and would further your legacy as a champion for LGBT equality. We urge you to act now to prevent irrational, taxpayer-funded workplace discrimination against LGBT Americans.
Sincerely,
[Photo: Barack Obama. Credit: Official White House Photo by Pete Souza.]
Organizers of the annual Tucson Pride festival have dissolved the organization’s board and canceled the upcoming 2026 Pride festival and all related events.
As reported by the Arizona Daily Star, the two-member board -- Sam Cloud and Jeff Fulgham -- announced the decision in a note posted to the Tucson Pride website and its social media accounts on January 21, exactly one month before the festival was scheduled to take place.
"This decision was not made lightly," the note reads. "We recognize the deep importance Tucson Pride has held in our community since 1977, serving as a space of visibility, advocacy, celebration, and resilience for nearly five decades. We are profoundly grateful to every volunteer, sponsor, artist, activist, and community member who has supported Tucson Pride throughout its history."
Little more than a year ago, Kamala Harris narrowly lost the presidential election. She may have suffered a swing-state sweep, but Donald Trump's 49.8 percent win was hardly a mandate. Consider Franklin D. Roosevelt won his first term with a bit more than 57 percent. That's a mandate.
But lose, she did. And I cried twice. Some frail dudes might not like admitting that, but I'm not so self-loathing that I'm compelled to deny human emotions. Initially, maybe a day after the vote, talking to a neighbor on our building's shared roof, my throat seized mid-sentence and I excused myself. I may have plenty to cry about, but I don't ever want it to make me the center of attention.
A new report finds that acceptance of LGBTQ people is declining across the United States, with nearly three in ten LGBTQ adults saying attitudes toward their community have worsened.
On Thursday, January 15, the Human Rights Campaign Foundation released findings from its Annual LGBTQ+ Community Survey, which drew responses from nearly 15,000 U.S. adults -- roughly two-thirds of whom identified as LGBTQ.
In addition to the survey, HRC last year launched its "American Dreams Tour," traveling to 10 cities and engaging more than 5,000 people through town halls, trainings, and community meetings with local LGBTQ leaders and activists. Those on-the-ground conversations informed the report, which aims to assess the state of LGBTQ life in the United States one year into the second Trump administration.
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