Nearly 200 Democrats Sign Letter Calling On President Obama To Issue Executive Order Barring Employment Discrimination By Federal Contractors

With ENDA continuing to fruitlessly spin its wheels in the US House, today a coalition of nearly 200 Democratic lawmakers signed a letter to President Obama which calls for an executive order barring anti-LGBT employment discrimination by federal contractors. Not one Republican signed the letter.

Chris Johnson reports at the Washington Blade:

In a letter dated March 18, 148 House members and 47 senators — making for a total of 195 lawmakers — urged Obama to sign an executive order barring federal contractors from discriminating on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity as part of his plan for a “Year of Action” in 2014. “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,” the letter says. “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.” The letter says “time is of an essence” for a signature on the executive order because even when that happens, a process that “will take many months, if not longer” to implement the directive fully will be necessary. In the House, the letter was circulated by the LGBT Equality Caucus along with Reps. Frank Pallone (D-N.J.) and Lois Capps (D-Calif.), while ENDA’s chief sponsor in the Senate Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.) circulated the letter in that chamber with Sens. Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.) and Tom Harkin (D-Iowa).

According to a study published by the Williams Institute, there are an estimated 400,000 - 600,000 LGBT employees of companies that do business with the federal government. Towleroad has posted the full letter with the names of all of the signers.