37 Senators Send Letter Urging Obama to Issue Executive Order Protecting LGBT People from Employment Discrimination

Thirty-seven U.S. Senators led by Jeff Merkley (pictured) have sent a letter to President Obama urging him to issue an executive order protecting LGBT people from employment discrimination, the Washington Post's Plum Line reports.

Read the letter HERE.

Reads the letter, in part:

[Y]ou are in a position to protect millions of American workers immediately by including sexual orientation and gender identity alongside long-standing anti-discrimination protections.

As you know, ENDA would prohibit most workplaces in the United States from discriminating against potential and existing employees on the basis of their sexual orientation or gender identity. From our perspective, ENDA’s premise is simple: it would make federal law reflect the basic principle that Americans should be judged on their skills and abilities in the workplace, and not on irrelevant factors such as their sexual orientation or gender identity.

The letter is signed by Merkley, Tom Harkin, Patty Murray, Christopher Coons, Jeanne Shaheen, Mazie Hirono, Sheldon Whitehouse, Richard Blumenthal, Ron Wyden, Patrick Leahy, Barbara Boxer, Tom Udall, Al Franken, Dianne Feinstein, Claire Mccaskill, Tammy Baldwin, Martin Heinrich, Kirsten Gillibrand, Carl Levin, Elizabeth Warren, Frank Lautenberg, Amy Klobuchar, Barbara Mikulski, Sherrod Brown, William Cowan, Mark Udall, Richard Durbin, Bernard Sanders, Charles Schumer, Brian Schatz, Mark Begich, Mark Warner, Debbie Stabenow, Benjamin Cardin, Jack Reed, Robert Casey, and Robert Menendez.

Harkin, the Chair of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee, promised during remarks this week at an event at the Center for American Progress that the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA) will "move this year."

Obama historically has favored the legislative process over issuing executive orders, but pressure has been growing around this issue.

Senator Tom Harkin: 'We're Going to Move ENDA This Year' - VIDEO

Senator Tom Harkin (D-IA), the Chair of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee, promised during remarks this morning at an event at the Center for American Progress that the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA) will "move thie year."

Think Progress notes that Harkin has the power to ensure that it receives at least a committee mark-up and vote.

Watch, AFTER THE JUMP...

Earlier this week, LGBT activists protested outside the White House over inaction by the President to make good on a first-term promise to pass ENDA. At the same time, the Washington Post reported that Obama was increasingly considering the use of an executive order to get LGBT protections passed.

Obama Weighing Executive Order on LGBT Discrimination; Activists Protest Outside the White House: PHOTO

President Obama is considering more seriously the use executive power to extend protections to LGBT federal workers as lawmakers drag their heels on ENDA, the Washington Post reports:

President Obama is considering a series of new executive actions aimed at working around a recalcitrant Congress, including policies that could allow struggling homeowners to refinance their mortgages, provide new protections for gays and lesbians, make buildings more energy-efficient and toughen regulations for coal-fired power plants, according to people outside the White House involved in discussions on the issues...

...The White House is also reviewing whether the president should issue an executive order offering protections to gays and lesbians who work for government contractors. Obama decided against issuing such an order during the presidential campaign last year, disappointing many gay-rights activists.

But two people familiar with White House thinking said the president may reverse that decision and issue the order if Congress does not pass broader legislation offering protection for gays in the workplace.

Last night, activists from the group GetEQUAL staged a protest outside the White House:

Roughly a dozen members of GetEQUAL and the Maryland Light Brigade held panels with illuminated letters that spelled out “Sign ENDA EO” on the Ellipse and in front of the White House on Pennsylvania Avenue.

“The State of the Union is coming up in two days and our hope would be the president would get the message,” Heather Cronk, managing director of GetEQUAL, told the Washington Blade. “He has the power to take action to end employment discrimination.”

(image via GetEQUAL)

Activists to Stage White House Protest Over ENDA Sunday Night

Activists demanding Obama keep his first-term promise to extend workplace protections to LGBT people will gather outside the White House two days before the President's State of the Union address to demand he do so.

From activist group GetEQUAL:

As he was running for president, then-candidate Obama pledged to extend workplace protections to all lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people employed by federal contractors, but has yet to deliver any policy to protect these vulnerable employees, who can be fired in over half the states in the country based simply on their sexual identity, and 39 states based on their gender identity or expression.

President Obama could offer these protections today to 16 million people with the stroke of a pen by signing an Executive Order which would protect anyone employed by a contractor who receives over $10,000/year in federal funds. As we approach the first State of the Union for the president’s second and final term, GetEQUAL is reminding the president to keep the promises he made that will not only help boost our suffering economy but protect millions of workers and families.

The demonstration is scheduled to take place Sunday night at 6 pm on the south side of the White House.

Paul Ryan Says His Position is 'Very Clear' on ENDA, Chats with HRC's Chad Griffin at Baldwin Reception: VIDEO

Think Progress caught up with Rep. Paul Ryan on Capitol Hill on Thursday and asked him about LGBT non-discrimination legislation.

Says Ryan: "My position is very clear on ENDA."

Watch, AFTER THE JUMP...

Think Progress notes that Ryan's position, unfortunately, is not so clear.

When he was tapped as Mitt Romney’s running mate, the Log Cabin Republicans lauded his 2007 vote for the bill, his only pro-LGBT vote ever. However, Ryan personally lobbied its sponsor, Rep. Barney Frank (D-MA), to strip transgender protections from that version of the bill, a move that divided the LGBT community. Since then, every version of ENDA proposed by Democrats has included both sexual orientation and gender identity. Ryan refused to clarify his position during the campaign — most likely because of Romney’s opposition — and his position on a trans-inclusive bill remains muddled.

Watch, AFTER THE JUMP...

In related news, HRC President Chad Griffin was snapped by the Washington Blade's Chris Johnson chatting with Ryan, who attended fellow Wisconsinite Tammy Baldwin's swearing-in reception:

Later, Griffin told the Blade he wanted to speak with him because LGBT advocates can’t only talk with their allies.

“Look, it’s just as important that we talk to our friends as it is that we talk to those who are often against us,” Griffin said. “And so, I introduced myself and thanked him for being here at Tammy’s event and told them I hope we can find some things together to work together on.”

Asked for specifics on what they could find in common, Griffin replied, “It was a private conversation. So, I’ll leave it at that. But it was general conversation about my desire to find some common ground on things.”

Tammy Baldwin Assigned Seats on Senate Panels with Jurisdiction Over Key LGBT Bills

Senator-elect Tammy Baldwin has been assigned to several key panels, the Washington Blade reports:

In a notice published Wednesday, the Democratic Steering Committee announced it has selected Baldwin, who’ll be the first openly gay member of the U.S. Senate, to sit on four committees: the Senate Health, Education, Labor & Pensions Committee; the Senate Homeland Security & Governmental Affairs Committee; the Senate Special Committee on Aging; and the Senate Budget Committee.

The Senate HELP Committee has jurisdiction over a key piece of pro-LGBT legislation — the Employment Non-Discrimination Act — as well as the measures that would address school bullying known as the Safe Schools Improvement Act and the Student Non-Discrimination Act.

Meanwhile, the Senate Homeland Security & Governmental Affairs Committee has jurisdiction over a pro-LGBT bill that Baldwin has long championed in the U.S. House — the Domestic Partnership Benefits & Obligations Act — which would extend health and pension benefits to the same-sex partners of federal employees.

More at the Blade...

House committee assignments have yet to be assigned.