WASHINGTON – U.S. Senators Ben Cardin today signed a letter along with more than 200 Senators and Representatives to President Barack Obama calling on him to issue an executive order banning contractors from receiving federal government contracts unless they have a policy prohibiting discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity.

Support for such an action has grown exponentially in Congress, with 51 Senators — or more than half the Senate — signing the letter.

“Our nation’s promise of equal protection under the law should be fulfilled for all Americans at the workplace regardless of sexual orientation or gender identity,” said Senator Cardin.  “Congress should pass ENDA, but until that occurs, President Obama can protect millions of Americans from discrimination by extending these protections to federal contractors. If America is going to be able to adequately compete globally, we need to empower all of the people of this country. We can’t leave anyone behind.”

 Executive orders banning various types of discrimination by federal contractors have been on the books since 1941, when President Franklin Delano Roosevelt signed the first such order. Federal contractors have been banned since 1965 from discriminating on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, or national origin.

The full text of the letter and the list of signatories is below.

March 18, 2014

The President

The White House

1600 Pennsylvania Ave, NW

Washington, DC 20500

Dear Mr. President,

We are writing to urge you to fulfill the promise in your State of the Union address to make this a “year of action” and build upon the momentum of 2013 by signing an executive order banning federal contractors from engaging in employment discrimination against lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) Americans. As you have said before, “now is the time to end this kind of discrimination, not enable it.”

As we continue to work towards final passage of the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA) with strong bipartisan support, we urge you to take action now to protection millions of workers across the country from the threat of discrimination simply because of who they are or who they love. We are committed to doing all that we can in Congress to get ENDA to your desk this year; however, there is no reason you cannot immediately act by taking this important step.  This executive order would provide LGBT people with another avenue in the federal government they could turn to if they were the victim of employment discrimination by a federal contractor.  When combined with ENDA, these non-discrimination protections would parallel those that have been in place for decades on the basis of race, sex and religion.

An executive order covering LGBT employees would be in line with a bipartisan, decades-long commitment to eradicating taxpayer-funded discrimination in the workplace.  In 1941, President Roosevelt prohibited discrimination in defense contracts on the bases of race, creed, color, or national origin.  In subsequent executive orders, Presidents Roosevelt, Truman, Eisenhower, Kennedy, and Johnson expanded these protections to ensure that taxpayer dollars are not used to discriminate.

In addition, most of the largest government contractors – companies like Boeing, Raytheon, and Lockheed Martin –  have LGBT non-discrimination policies in place.  They adopted them because business leaders recognize that discrimination is bad for the bottom line. 

Finally, time is of the essence.  Even with an executive order in place, full implementation of these protections will require regulations to be developed and finalized, a process that will take many months, if not longer, to fully put in place.

Issuing an executive order prohibiting discrimination against LGBT workers in federal contracts would build on the significant progress for LGBT rights made during your time as President and would further your legacy as a champion for LGBT equality. We urge you to act now to prevent irrational, taxpayer-funded workplace discrimination against LGBT Americans.

Sincerely,

Senator Benjamin L. Cardin                                        

Senator Jeffrey A. Merkley

Representative Jared Polis

Senator Tom Harkin                                                       

Senator Tammy Baldwin

Representative Mike Michaud                                  

Representative David N. Cicilline

Representative Sean Patrick Maloney

Representative Mark Pocan

Representative Kyrsten Sinema

Representative Mark Takano

Representative Frank Pallone, Jr.

Representative Lois Capps

Representative Diana DeGette

Representative Joe Garcia

Representative Raúl M. Grijalva

Representative Michael Honda

Representative Barbara Lee

Representative Jerrold Nadler

Representative Adam Schiff                                      

Senator Mazie K. Hirono

Senator Tim Kaine                                                          

Senator Christopher Coons   

Senator Jeanne Shaheen

Senator Richard Durbin 

Senator Patrick Leahy                                                   

Senator Elizabeth Warren

Senator Sheldon Whitehouse 

Senator Patty Murray

Senator Kirsten Gillibrand

Senator Barbara Boxer                                                 

Senator Carl Levin                                                           

Senator Robert P. Casey, Jr.

Senator Bernard Sanders

Senator Al Franken

Senator Martin Heinrich

Senator Sherrod Brown

Senator Edward J. Markey                                          

Senator Jack Reed                                                          

Senator Thomas R. Carper

Senator Debbie Stabenow

Senator Mark Udall                                                        

Senator Ron Wyden

Senator Christopher Murphy

Senator Barbara Mikulski

Senator Tim Johnson                                                     

Senator Charles Schumer                                            

Senator Bill Nelson                                                         

Senator Jon Tester                                                         

Senator Mark Begich                                                     

Senator Mary L. Landrieu                                            

Senator Robert Menendez

Senator Amy Klobuchar

Senator Cory Booker

Senator Claire McCaskill

Senator Richard Blumenthal

Senator Dianne Feinstein

Senator Tom Udall                                                          

Senator John D. Rockefeller, IV

Senator Mark Warner                                                                       

Senator Joe Donnelly                                                    

Senator Kay Hagan