And whether or not we can get ENDA past the GOP House, there's one big thing the President can do that has nothing to do with Congress: issue an executive order on ENDA and federal contractors. In essence, the executive order would require those who contract with the federal government to have non-discrimination policies covering L, G, B and T.
Here's more from Chris Johnson, who first raised the point last week, while noting that the much-heralded Obama jobs speech didn't mention our jobs:
One problem that Obama didn't mention in his speech was the lack of federal non-discrimination protections faced by LGBT Americans in the workplace. Firing someone for being gay is legal in 29 states and firing someone for being transgender is legal in 35 states.Chris raises a good point. If the administration wants to focus on jobs, great (and they should). Then focus on all of our jobs.
Obama campaigned on passage of the Employment Non-Discrimination Act — legislation that would bar such job bias against LGBT people in the public and private workforce — but the bill has languished for years and didn't even see a committee vote in the last Congress when Democrats were in control of both the House and Senate.
No mention of ENDA or the lack of federal workplace protections for LGBT people was included in the president's remarks.
The White House didn't immediately respond to the Washington Blade's request for comment on why the issue was omitted from Obama's job speech.
