Today, Congressman Jerrold Nadler (NY-10), a veteran member of the House Judiciary Committee, Vice Chair of the House LGBT Equality Caucus, and a long-time supporter for passage of measures to protect lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) individuals from discrimination, applauded President Obama for announcing that he will sign an executive order to ban federal contractors from discriminating against LGBT workers.
“Today is a great day for equality and I vigorously applaud President Obama. 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. Congress must follow President Obama’s lead and pass the Employment Non-Discrimination Act to ensure that LGBT workers throughout our nation are treated fairly,” said Congressman Nadler. “In America, your sexual orientation or gender identity should not be a factor in your 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.
“President Obama’s executive order will take the American values of fairness and equality and place them into the law for federal contractors,” said Congressman Nadler. “I am 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. As we have seen in many states, the failure to include the transgender community in civil rights protections from the beginning makes it more difficult to extend protections later.”