April 4, 2012
WASHINGTON, D.C.—Congressman Frank Pallone, Jr. (NJ-06), along with 71 Members of Congress, sent the following letter to President Obama on Tuesday, April 3, 2012, calling for an executive order prohibiting contractors from receiving federal funds unless they have sexual orientation and gender identity anti-discrimination policies in place.
The letter was prompted by several examples of LGBT workplace discrimination, including one where a former employee at DynCorp, a military contractor profiting from billions of U.S. taxpayer dollars, reported that he was a victim of continual anti-gay discrimination and harassment while working at the corporation. In 1965, President Johnson established an executive order prohibiting federal contractors from discriminating against employees based on race, color, religion, sex, or national origin.
“I am pleased to join so many colleagues and reputable organizations to call for an executive order that ensures all Americans are afforded the same protections in the workplace,” said Congressman Frank Pallone. “This action by the President will send a clear sign that we will not tolerate such discrimination and serve as a step forward in our efforts to ensure LGBT equality.”
“Americans recognize that discrimination is bad for business and they want our government to take action,” said Human Rights Campaign President Joe Solmonese. “An executive order is the best step we can take right now to ensure that what matters is how you do your job, not who you are. We thank Representative Pallone and all of the cosigners of this letter for their leadership and their continued commitment to LGBT workplace equality.”
“Extending the current executive order to cover the LGBT population is good and fair policy. Good because it would require federal contractors to follow a common and efficient best HR practice, and fair because it helps put LGBT workers on equal footing with all other employees at these businesses, said Jeff Krehely, Vice President for LGBT Progress at Center for American Progress. Thank you to Congressman Pallone for his leadership on this letter and all cosigners for their commitment to LGBT equality.”
“Having worked with Rep. Frank Pallone and his staff on persuading nearly half of the Democratic Caucus to sign this congressional letter to President Obama, I know firsthand that our LGBT community owes Mr. Pallone a debt of gratitude for his strong leadership promoting workplace fairness,” said Tico Almeida, the founder and President of the national LGBT organization Freedom to Work. “More than 110,000 people have signed the Freedom to Work online petition proclaiming that ‘We Can’t Wait’ any longer for President Obama to sign this executive order. The right time is now.”
The ACLU views this executive order as the single most important step that President Obama could take this year to eradicate anti-LGBT discrimination from American workplaces,” said Ian Thompson, ACLU Legislative Representative. With the impressive number of signers on this letter, it is clear that this view is widely shared on Capitol Hill. We thank Representatives Pallone, Frank, and Capps for their outstanding leadership on this letter and on issues of workplace fairness generally.
1 comment:
How about instead of anti "whatever the current trend is today" discrimination, we just do an anti discrimination bill? We won't have to change it up when we realise we were horrible people to another demographic every ten years.
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