Today, Obama signed an executive order protecting the LGBT from discrimination if they work for a Federal contractor, with no exemptions for religious organizations

Thank you, Mr. President!

My president believes all people are equal, and will be signing an executive order banning job discrimination against the LGBT by federal contractors

Via Joe.My.God:

The National Lesbian & Gay Task Force is first with the news that President Obama will sign an executive order forbidding anti-LGBT discrimination by employers who have contracts with the federal government. Via press release:

“This is a major step forward in the struggle for freedom and justice for LGBTQ workers and their families. Now millions of people will have the economic security they need to provide for their families. Through his actions, the President has demonstrated again his commitment to ending discrimination. We thank all the organizations who have worked so hard to make this piece of history. This decision is good for LGBTQ people, good for our economy and good for America. Unfortunately, many of us who don't work for federal contractors will still lack workplace protections. Now we must redouble our efforts for the urgent passage of state employment protections and strong federal legislation.”

Quote of the day, by Vice President Joe Biden: the lack of a nationwide law on anti-LGBT workplace discrimination as “close to barbaric”

What a difference that equality-minded leaders make!  While the GOP having been using homophobia to win elections in the Bible Belt, many Democratic leaders have become powerful advocates for 7% of all Americans.

“The single most basic of all human rights is the right to decide who you love,” he told the crowd of LGBT people and supporters. “It’s the single basic building block…it is.  It is the single most important human right that exist… and hate, hate can never, never be defended because it’s a so called cultural norm.  I’ve had it up here with cultural norms.”

--VP Joe Biden

Here is the video of his speech:

Mormons and the movement for LGBT equality

Queerty reminds me that 5 senators who are Mormon voted for ENDA yesterday, which includes Harry Reid and Orin Hatch.  Pretty amazing turn of events.

Calling the Mormon Church an opponent of the gay rights movement is a massive understatement. But of the seven Senators who are Mormon, five of them voted to pass ENDA: Harry Reid, Tom Udall, Dean Heller, Jeff Flake and Orrin Hatch. (Mike Lee and Michael Crapo voted no.) Now Reid and Udall are Democrats, so you could argue their votes were to be expected, but the remaining three are Republicans. In particular, Hatch represents Utah, which is virtually synonymous with the Mormon Church, so he’s not likely to be taking positions that are going to enrage the Church.

From yesterday's New York Times, read this article about the Mormon Church and the gay rights movement, too.


We need to keep pressing the Mormon Church to stay out of the marriage equality debate. After the strong public backlash from their heavy support of Prop 8 and during the presidential campaign of Mitt Romney, the LDS church has kept a low profile on this and other gay-releated issues.  But, recently in Hawaii, they seem to have fallen back to their old ways of preaching from the pulpit against the LGBT, while some of their most prominent members, like Steve Young, openly disagree with the church's teachings on homosexuality.  

Yay, 64-32, the ENDA employment non-discrimination bill passes the Senate...with the help of all Democrats and these GOP senators. Giving credit where it is due!

Thanks to Democratic Senate Caucus who voted in bloc for ENDA as well as the brave GOP senators who bucked their party's anti-gay policies.

Now, we need to convince John Boehner to let the House vote on this subject.  That's going to be difficult and this should be the primary responsibility of gay Republicans to convince him to do the right thing.  Get to work, boys!

The first openly gay U.S. Senator, Tammy Baldwin gives an impassioned speech in favor of ENDA

United States Conference On Catholic Bishops believes that the LGBT should be fired for being gay, and opposes the ENDA law. Shame on them

It appears that the bishops do not understood Pope Francis' new direction for the church, moving away from "small-minded things."  

Peter Montgomery of People From The American Way has an excerpt: 

While the Church is opposed to unjust discrimination on any grounds, including those related to same-sex attraction, she teaches that all sexual acts outside of the marriage of one man and one woman are morally wrong and do not serve the good of the person or society. Same-sex sexual conduct, moreover, is categorically closed to the transmission of life and does not reflect or respect the sexual difference and complementarity of man and woman. Therefore, opposition to same-sex sexual conduct by the Church (and others) is not unjust discrimination and should not be treated as such by the law. In contrast to sexual conduct between a man and woman in marriage, sexual conduct outside of marriage, including same-sex sexual conduct, has no claim to any special protection by the state. Therefore, although ENDA may forbid some unjust discrimination, it would also forbid as discrimination what is legitimate, moral disapproval of same-sex conduct.

Despite the fact that the LGBT can be fired for being themselves in 29 states, love is winning...

A rare Republican leader: Sen. Mark Kirk from Illinois, who believes all men are created equal and supports ENDA

A world of possibility: the employment discrimination bill (ENDA) may pass the US Senate today and we are getting closer to marriage equality in Hawaii & Illinois

Good news in the U.S. Senate: we have the votes to stop a filibuster, thanks to Republican Senator Dean Haller from Nevada, who just became the 60th senator to sign on this legislation.  More here.

The democratic process towards equality continues in Hawaii.

Here is the latest good news from llinois.

Fox News and Senator Marco Rubio are against ENDA, a federal law that would prohibit job discrimination against gay people. They claim it limits "religious freedom."

And a spokesman for Senator Marco Rubio:

"He believes people’s qualifications, performance and honesty are the most important qualities by which they should be judged in the workplace. If you’re a good worker, that’s all that should matter. This legislation goes far beyond protecting workers from discrimination based on sexual orientation, and he is currently studying what kinds of burdens it could impose on small businesses, frivolous lawsuits that could result, and ensuring that religious freedoms under the First Amendment are protected."