Yesterday, President Obama signed an executive order expanding protections for lgbt federal workers and prohibits contractors dealing with the federal government from discriminating against lgbts. There were no religious exemptions.
It's not a total ENDA, but it will do for now.
However, to hear some members of the anti-gay right tell it, Obama just gave the go ahead to begin "anti-Christian" persecution across the country.
Matt Barber, no stranger to hysterical hyperbole, had this to say:
Here we have this president acting and ruling as the imperialist president – circumventing Congress, circumventing the separation of powers in order to force his radical, leftist agenda on the rest of America – and targeting and discriminating specifically against Christian companies in order to do so.
Not to be undone, Tony Perkins of the Family Research Council reached waaaay back and brought up stereotypes about lgbts:
This order gives activists a license to challenge their employers and, expose those contracted employers to threats of costly legal proceedings and the potential of jeopardizing future contracts. The order further burdens contractors by stripping away their right to set dress and grooming standards. All this amounts to viewpoint blackmail and bullies into silence those contractors and subcontractors who have moral objections to homosexual behavior.
In spite of the false weeping and portents of doom, what President Obama did was legal and very appropriate. And it shouldn't have to come through executive order.
It should be a given that if you have business with THIS country, you shouldn't be allowed to discriminate, period.
2 comments:
"The order further burdens contractors by stripping away their right to set dress and grooming standards" Really?!
That's a new one. I have worked in places with strict dress codes but it had nothing to do with my orientation.
It's a shame it took 40 years and one brave President to insist on equality in the workplace. Our current and last Congress have been the worst in our country's history. If they are going to sit on their ass and get nothing done for us, at least we have a President who is shaming them at every turn and doing what is right all by himself. Thank you President Obama. I wish you could run again.
Well, Perkins is a pretty slimy character, so I'm not surprised by ANYTHING he says. We're talking here about a guy who has had ties to David Duke (yes, the one you're thinking of!) and who also once gave a speech to the Council of Conservative Citizens (the modern incarnation of the White Citizens Councils). For more on this idiot:
http://www.splcenter.org/get-informed/intelligence-files/groups/family-research-council
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