WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack
Obama will sign an executive order on Monday barring federal contractors
from discriminating on the basis of sexual orientation or gender
identity, the White House said on Friday.
The order does not include new exemptions for religious
organizations, a fact that was cheered by gay rights activists.
Some religious leaders had pressed Obama for added flexibility in
executing the rules, but senior administration officials said that
had not been granted.
Instead, protections already allowed for religious entities from
previous non-discrimination rules were left in place but not
expanded.
Religious organization would be barred from making hiring decisions
based on sexual orientation or gender identity, but exceptions would
be allowed for ministers, and groups would be allowed to favor
individuals of a particular religion.
"We're so proud today of the decision made by the Obama
administration to resist the calls by a small number of right-wing
conservatives to insert religious exemptions into civil rights
protections," said Heather Cronk, director of GetEqual, an activist
organization.
The officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told reporters
on Friday that Obama's action would update two previous orders about
discrimination already on the books.
It would update an order by President Lyndon Johnson by adding
sexual orientation and gender identity to a list of protected
categories for federal contractors.
It would also update an order by President Richard Nixon from 1969,
adding gender identity to a list of groups that are protected from
being discriminated against as federal employees.
The order already banned discrimination on the basis of race, color,
religion, sex, national origin, disability and age. It was updated
in 1998 by President Bill Clinton to include sexual orientation.
A senior administration official said the order would affect 24,000
companies that employ some 28 million workers, roughly a fifth of
the nation's work force.
Obama has pressed Congress to pass legislation that would ban such
discrimination for all companies, but it has failed to gain traction
with Republican lawmakers.
The White House believes the order will help improve productivity by
reducing fears among employees that they could be fired for being
gay, bisexual or transgender.
"This is another case where doing what is right also helps
businesses improve their bottom line," one official told reporters
on a conference call.
Gay rights groups welcomed the move.
“With the strokes of a pen, the president will have a very real and
immediate impact on the lives of millions of LGBT people across the
country," said Human Rights Campaign, a leading LGBT activist
organization.
