2013 was definitely a momentous year for LGBT rights in America and many our nation’s Democratic lawmakers are now pushing President Obama to continue that momentum by signing an executive order providing workplace protections for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender Americans.
According to Huffington Post, 48 senators and 149 members of the House, all Democrats, have signed the letter, which was started by effort was organized by Sens. Jeff Merkley, D-Ore.; Tammy Baldwin, D-Wis.; and Tom Harkin, D-Iowa; in the Senate and by the LGBT Equality Caucus in the House.
“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,’” the letter reads.
Merkley released a statement on Tuesday explaining why he and his fellow lawmakers are pushing for Obama to act now.
“All Americans deserve fairness in the workplace,” said Merkley. “There is no reason to wait any longer to extend non-discrimination policies to federal contractors and protect millions of Americans from being fired for who they are or who they love.”
However, according to the White House, the hesitation stems from the fact that the proposed Employment Non-Discrimination Act has only passed the Senate, and not the House, where it has stalled. Obama prefers that Congress pass ENDA because if he signs an executive order into law, it would only ban employment discrimination by government contractors, leaving all other LGBT employees under other employers susceptible to job discrimination.
The good thing about the letter, though, is that it shows a growing desire to protect the LGBT community under federal law and we hope that ENDA will eventually be passed for all LGBT people across the board. –nicholas robinson
