GOP Mum On LGBT Executive Order

Anti-gay and Christian groups have been screaming their heads off about President Obama's signing of the executive order protecting the LGBT employees of federal contractors from workplace discrimination. But the GOP hasn't uttered an official peep.

Perhaps nobody better illustrated this point than House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio). HuffPost asked him Thursday if he had any reaction to Obama's LGBT executive order. "Nope," Boehner said at his weekly briefing. "The president signs a lot of executive orders." Asked if he supports the principle of workplace protections being extended to LGBT employees, he punted again. "Listen, the president is going to make his decisions. He can," Boehner said. On the other side, Human Rights Campaign spokesman Fred Sainz said he considers Republicans' silence golden. "While I would far prefer they speak on behalf of the equality their constituents support, it's definitely evidence of our progress when some say nothing," Sainz said. One factor may be that Republicans simply aren't keeping up with the flurry of LGBT rights advancements. Rep. Michael Grimm (R-N.Y.), one of the eight House GOP co-sponsors of ENDA, said Thursday that he didn't know about Obama's executive order. But he emphasized that if it has the same goal as ENDA -- which it does, except that ENDA has far broader implications -- he supports it.