From the bottom of my heart, Thank you President Obama.

[William769]

As President Obama's executive order protecting LGBT workers takes effect today, his senior adviser Valerie Jarrett sees it as a civil rights milestone.

“Because of what they did, the doors of opportunity swung open not just for black folks, but for every American. Women marched through those doors. Latinos marched through those doors. Asian Americans, gay Americans, Americans with disabilities — they all came through those doors. Their endeavors gave the entire South the chance to rise again, not by reasserting the past, but by transcending the past. What a glorious thing, Dr. King might say.” – President Obama, in Selma, Alabama

Last month I traveled with President Obama to Selma, Alabama, where he addressed an emotional crowd, and marched in the footsteps of the brave men, women and children who put themselves in harm’s way and sacrificed so much in their historic journey 50 years earlier. It was a day which highlighted both the progress we have made toward equality for all Americans, and the work that is left to be done.

Today, we take another important step toward equality and fairness with our LGBT brothers and sisters. On July 21, 2014, President Obama signed an executive order to expand the protections of anti-discrimination to apply to the LGBT community with respect to companies who do business with the government. Today, this executive order becomes federal law.

We’ve estimated that 1.5 million Americans will be protected in the workplace as a result of this executive order. The billions of taxpayer dollars that federal contractors and subcontractors receive to supply goods and services for government agencies will not be used to discriminate against people on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity, in addition to race, color, religion, national origin, disability and veteran status, which are already protected.

This will effectively prevent any company that does business with the government from firing an employee based on who they are or who they love.

http://www.advocate.com/commentary/2015/04/08/op-ed-protecting-lgbt-workers-means-protecting-all-workers

[greatauntoftriplets]

1. The university where my niece teaches put similar rules in place several years ago.

This is a great move forward.

Good to see you posting.

[William769]

5. Thanks.

Not ready to scrap it up at the moment but posting OP's of great news I can handle.

I truly missed all of you.

[greatauntoftriplets]

9. Judging by your other OP, A LOT of people missed you...

including me.

[blm]

40. I know what you mean. ; )

.

[hrmjustin]

2. K&R! And great to see you Bill!

[William769]

6. You too my friend.

[n2doc]

3. K n R

Hope you are feeling better!

[William769]

7. Thanks.

[NYC_SKP]

4. K/R and YAY to see you posting, Bill!

For all the grief Obama had to take over so many different issues, he sure has come through for a great many of us.

[William769]

8. Agreed.

[Sissyk]

10. K&R

This applies to my company.

This will effectively prevent any company that does business with the government from firing an employee based on who they are or who they love.

I will say though. Even though I am in Tennessee, the company I work for has included my LGBT Brothers and Sisters in our H/R, EEO Policies for at least the past 15 years.

[William769]

12. Kudo's for your employer.

[Sissyk]

14. VERY Good to see you!

I hope all is well!

[William769]

17. Baby steps for me.

& thank you again.

[freshwest]

34. I come from an earlier time 40 years ago when it was enshrined at my firm.

It was a very large corporation and affected tens of thousands of workers. Guess what, we all got along just fine.

I'm hoping the great leap backward will be reversed and we can begin to live with the standards we had set in place then by the EEOC. When Reagan got in, he worked to destroy all worker and civil rights... this country may never recover completely.

Good for your firm doing this to bring us back to sanity.

[Gothmog]

11. That was a great speech in Selma

[William769]

13. Indeed.

[Bluenorthwest]

15. This OP is such good news.

Glad to see you posting it too!

[William769]

19. With all the nuts trying to rain on our parade

There is always a ray of sunshine to be found.

[In_The_Wind]

16. Kicked and recommended

[Stellar]

18. hear, hear! nt.

[mountain grammy]

20. Good news, both the post

and the poster well enough to bring it here. Thanks, William.

[William769]

21. My pleasure.

& thank you.

[yallerdawg]

22. And new minimum wage!

You would be astonished at how many workers are 'identified' as unskilled and make under $10.10 an hour as regular pay on non-Federal jobs.

Another example of President Obama taking care of us little people; including the protections regarding sexual orientation and gender identity.

President Obama lives his values, and these are secular, too.

Christian values? You wouldn't know it...

"Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me."

"And they know we are Christians by our love."

On October 7, the Federal Register published a new rule requiring federal contractors working on certain types of contracts to pay employees at least $10.10 per hour. The change goes into effect on January 1, 2015 and applies to new contracts and replacements for expiring contracts with the federal government that result from solicitations issued (or to contracts that are awarded outside the solicitation process) on or after that date. The news of the official change did not come as an overwhelming surprise however, given that the new rule implements an executive order signed by the President in February and a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking issued in June. The government predicts that hundreds of thousands of workers will be affected by the change.

http://www.laboremploymentperspectives.com/2014/10/27/cha-ching-new-minimum-wage-for-federal-contractors-officially-effective-on-january-1-2015/

[ananda]

23. So when, when! is the same action going to be taken for women!

There are a lot of anti-choice and anti-women laws out there
to revoke.

[William769]

24. Are they at the Federal level?

[calimary]

29. Good point. We need to keep reminding everyone of that.

Federal, state, regional, local. REGARDLESS. Women are getting left behind. The progress other communities are slowly but steadily gaining - is being kept from us. Systematically and deliberately.

[AtheistCrusader]

30. True, but this is a good start.

[Hekate]

25. KnR with joy

[leftofcool]

26. He's baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaack!

Thank goodness.

[William769]

27. You don't know how much that comment really means to me.

[one_voice]

28. wonderful...

K&R

good to see you.

[Spitfire of ATJ]

31. What I find amazing is this administration has been one of the cleanest I can remember....

I know everyone here likes to use the criminality of the Reagan Administration but Dubya's people were no slouches either when it came to corruption. He had folks in the Department of the Interior actually having coke orgies with Big Oil.

[SidDithers]

32. Happy to kick and rec...

Sid

[William769]

33. There's the man of the hour.

[sheshe2]

35. President Obama is a true Ally.

Excellent passage you highlighted.

“Because of what they did, the doors of opportunity swung open not just for black folks, but for every American. Women marched through those doors. Latinos marched through those doors. Asian Americans, gay Americans, Americans with disabilities — they all came through those doors. Their endeavors gave the entire South the chance to rise again, not by reasserting the past, but by transcending the past. What a glorious thing, Dr. King might say.” – President Obama, in Selma, Alabama

I missed you William. Great to see you back.

[Cha]

36. Today?! Wonderful.. Mahalo for the Great News, William.. Thanks President Obama & his Admin!

[brer cat]

37. K&R for PBO

and for Bill. Good to have you back!

[lovemydog]

38. Nice seeing you, especially on such great news.

One of my favorite things about this Administration is how well it adapts and grows. That's a sign of wisdom, imho.

[madokie]

39. I have a dear friend who I've known since his birth

I was 4 yo when he was born and it was apparent that he was wired more as a girl than as a boy from the get go. No matter we still love one another as only lifelong friends can. He didn't change, or decide to be gay, he was born gay. I accepted that even before many years later I realized that was what it was. We don't chose who we are or what orientation we are, sexually. It would be just as wrong for me to discriminate against him as it is for me to discriminate against my brothers and sisters in this world who are not white people. All this racism, homophobic bullshit is what it is BullShit. America wake the fuck up and accept and embrace those of us who are different. It is in the differences that makes us strong.