A gay protections executive order
reportedly being considered by the Obama administration could affect
16 million employees.
The proposed memo, which would extend
the federal government's ban on employment discrimination based on
sexual orientation and gender identity to contractors, was first
reported by gay weekly Metro
Weekly.
The Williams Institute at the
University of California at Los Angeles released a report detailing
the impact of the proposed executive order.
“Eleven million additional employees
would gain protections against sexual orientation discrimination and
16 million employees would be protected against gender identity
discrimination,” concludes
the report, titled The Impact of Extending Sexual Orientation
and Gender Identity Non-Discrimination Requirements to Federal
Contractors.
In
a memo to Massachusetts Rep. Barney Frank, the Williams
Institute, along with the Center for American Progress, detailed what
the Obama executive order should include and whether it could be
legally challenged.
The executive order may require federal
contractors to adopt nondiscrimination policies, actively recruit
LGBT employees and extend benefits to domestic partners. The federal
government currently does not offer benefits to the spouses of gay
employees.
“It is well within the president's
legal authority to issue either an amended or a new executive order
to require that federal contractors not discriminate based on sexual
orientation and gender identity,” the groups wrote. “However,
the lack of Supreme Court precedent on the constitutionality of
nondiscrimination executive orders … adds a modicum of uncertainty
to the legal analysis.”