WASHINGTON, DC — This morning, the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Education and Workforce held a congressional hearing, "Reviewing the Impact of the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs' Regulatory and Enforcement Actions," which drew no criticism on a proposal to protect the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) workforce.
Below is a statement from Freedom to Work's founder and president Tico Almeida:
"Today's congressional hearing featured three Republican-selected witnesses, including business representatives, and not a single one of them complained about the proposal to add LGBT Americans to the Labor Department's rules that ensure taxpayer dollars are not squandered by discriminatory contractors who allow anti-gay hostile work environments. Not a single Republican member of Congress who attended the hearing complained either. That's because our LGBT proposal is completely non-controversial and politically safe, as shown by HRC's polling data that 73% of 2012 likely voters favor President Obama signing the executive order promoting workplace fairness and eliminating discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity. Moreover, America's top contractors — companies like Lockheed Martin, Boeing, and Raytheon — adopted LGBT non-discrimination rules many years ago because they realize that ending harassment improves worker productivity and company profits."
"Ever since I attended the White House meeting last Wednesday with Valerie Jarrett, White House spokesperson Jay Carney has been ducking questions from the press and making up lame excuses to justify the President's delay in signing this executive order that Barack Obama promised four years ago he would sign if we helped elect him. I agree with the Center for American Progress and the Human Rights Campaign that President Obama should sign the LGBT order now. To quote the President's own words, 'We can't wait.'"
This morning in Roll Call, Rep. Jared Polis (D-CO) commented on the White House meeting last week, during which White House staff gave indications of their unwillingness to sign an executive order "at this time."
Polis told Roll Call, "Without a Congress that's willing to pass [the Employment Non-Discrimination Act], I wish the president was a little more aggressive to pursue nondiscrimination."
Two weeks ago, the Ranking Democrat on the Committee on Education and Workforce, George Miller (D-CA), was among 72 members of Congress to write to President Obama urging him to sign the LGBT order. In addition, more than 110,000 Americans have signed Freedom to Work's online petition to President Obama.
