Based on this Victory, LGBT Advocates Re-New Call for President Obama to do More to Combat Anti-LGBT Workplace Discrimination By Signing an Executive Order That Has Been Approved by Two Cabinet Agencies and Now Sits in the White House Awaiting the President's Signature.
WASHINGTON, DC — After almost 55,000 people joined the Freedom to Work campaign on Change.org calling on DynCorp International, one of the largest defense contractors in the United States, to protect lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) employees from harassment on the job, advocates are celebrating an important victory for workplace fairness. Earlier today, the staff at the LGBT organization Freedom to Work obtained a copy of DynCorp's newly revised policies that now protect against workplace bias because of sexual orientation or gender identity.
Tico Almeida, a civil rights lawyer and founder of the national LGBT workplace fairness organization Freedom to Work, started the petition two weeks ago after DynCorp International settled a lawsuit with a former employee who claimed that despite significant anti-gay harassment on the job, including being called homophobic slurs like "queer" and "faggot" in front of managers, DynCorp officials did not step in to stop the abuse. DynCorp settled out of court with the employee in January for more than $150,000.
"DynCorp has an ugly history of sex trafficking committed against young girls, racial discrimination against African-Americans, and most recently a hostile work environment with anti-gay epithets like 'faggot' and 'queer' used on a daily basis. I'm very glad to know they've seen the error of their ways and have listened to the call of almost 55,000 Americans who signed thev Freedom to Work petition on Change.org in the last two weeks asking DynCorp to add sexual orientation and gender identity to their non-discrimination policy," said Tico Almeida, founder and president of Freedom to Work.
Many other major defense contractors in the United States, including the top five — Lockheed Martin, Boeing, Northrop Grumman, Raytheon, and General Dynamics — already offer workplace protections for LGBT employees. When Freedom to Work first launched the DynCorp petition two weeks ago, a spokesperson for the company told reporters that management was still in the process of deciding whether these LGBT protections are necessary.
"DynCorp profits from 2 or 3 Billion dollars per year from the American taxpayers, but they had fallen behind the leading military contractors like Raytheon, Lockheed Martin, and Northrop Grumman, all of which added LGBT protections to their workplace policies years ago. Those top government contractors realize that discrimination is bad for the bottom line — and a waste of our taxpayer money," said Almeida.
The victory in the DynCorp campaign also has implications for national politics, as Freedom to Work and other LGBT organizations have long called on President Barack Obama to sign an executive order that would ban anti-LGBT discrimination at federal contractors, in the same way that previous executive orders already ban racial and religious discrimination at the companies that profit from government contracts.
Almeida said, "If a big corporation like DynCorp can change, then President Obama can certainly create change by signing the ENDA executive order that his staff has already drafted for him. The order is sitting on a desk in the White House right now just waiting to be signed, and it's time for the president to put pen to paper."
Almeida added, "Most of the big federal contractors already have good LGBT non-discrimination policies because they have realized that workplace fairness leads to greater efficiency and larger profits. So President Obama's executive order won't require any changes from the best contractors like Boeing and General Dynamics. The order will only affect the retrograde companies like DynCorp, and today's victory shows that even they are willing to change."
For news accounts of the progress on President Obama's executive order, see:
http://www.metroweekly.com/news/?ak=7011
http://www.washingtonblade.com/2012/02/01/enda-exec-order-waiting-at-the-white-house-sources/
Freedom to Work has partnered with many other progressive organizations on the DynCorp campaign and the push to convince President Obama to sign the executive order for federal contractors.
"I am really grateful that Change.org provided such a fantastic venue for so many thousands of people to call on DynCorp to improve theirworkplace policies, and I also appreciate the role that the National Gay and Lesbian Chamber of Commerce played in our campaign. I am incredibly impressed by the exhaustive work that the Williams Institute at UCLA Law School, the Center for American Progress, and other LGBT groups have done to build the case for the executive order," said Almeida.
Live signature totals from Freedom to Work's campaign on Change.org:
http://www.change.org/petitions/dyncorp-international-stop-discrimination-against-lgbt-employees
For more information on Freedom to Work, please visit: http://www.freedomtowork.org/
Freedom to Work is a national organization committed to banning workplace harassment and career discrimination against lesbians, gay men, bisexuals, and transgender Americans through public education, policy analysis, and legal work.
