This is fresh off the press!
July 22, 2014 – Cape Town: Human Rights Watch reports that on July 21, 2014 President Barack Obama signed an executive order prohibiting workplace discrimination on grounds of sexual orientation or gender identity by companies awarded federal contracts.
The order outlaws discrimination based on gender identity for federal employees and it does not include new religious exemptions, despite calls from some prominent faith leaders to include sweeping exemptions.
The Order is a significant step toward ending discrimination against lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people in the workplace in the United States.
This is a particularly important step for the transgender and gender non-conforming community who experience compounded discrimination at all levels and at every turn including injustice in: childhood homes; school systems that promise to shelter and educate; harsh and exclusionary workplaces; grocery stores; hotel front desk; doctors’ offices and emergency rooms; before judges and at the hands of landlords; and by, police officer; health care workers and other service providers.
This order does not address the constellation of discrimination working against LGBT people, but it is a step in creating a culture which allows them to self-actualize as full citizens and economic participants.
Read full report Human Rights Watch
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