Today, Congressman Jerrold Nadler (NY-10), a veteran member of the House Judiciary Committee, applauded President Obama for announcing that he will sign an executive order on Monday to ban federal contractors from discriminating against lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) workers. Congressman Nadler is Vice Chair of the House LGBT Equality Caucus and a long-time supporter for passage of measures to protect LGBT individuals from discrimination.

“I applaud President Obama for taking this historic step to expand equal rights with the signing of an executive order to ban LGBT workplace discrimination by federal contractors. I am also particularly proud that the President will be banning discrimination based on gender identity and gender expression. Civil rights are best advanced by protecting all members of the LGBT community,” said Congressman Nadler. “However, even after the signing of this executive order, there will still be far too many workplaces where LGBT workers are not protected from discrimination. In America, sexual orientation or gender identity should not be a factor in employment and the Republican leadership of the House must stop standing in the way of Congress doing its part.”

For nearly four decades, Congressman Nadler has been a lead sponsor of legislation to end LGBT workplace discrimination at the federal and state level. He is also the author of the “Respect for Marriage Act,” legislation that would repeal the so-called “Defense of Marriage Act” (DOMA) in its entirety and is the author of the “Uniting American Families Act,” which led the charge on legal protection of immigration rights for binational couples. The Congressman helped spearhead the amicus brief submitted by 212 members of Congress in United States v. Windsor, the case that successfully challenged DOMA’s federal definition of marriage as excluding married same-sex couples.

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