Free Republic

President Barack Obama will sign an order banning federal government contractors from discriminating against gay and transgender workers, officials have said. The executive order follows years of pressure from gay rights groups. Mr Obama cannot extend the protection to all American workers, however. The order comes after far broader anti-discrimination legislation stalled in the Republican-led House of Representatives. The executive order will apply only to federal contractors, which employ nearly one-quarter of the US workforce.

The Attorney General of the United States told a homosexual advocacy group on Tuesday night that the Boy Scouts of America "preserves and perpetuates the worst kind of stereotypes" by refusing to allow homosexuals to serve as Boy Scout troop leaders. "Today, courageous lesbian, gay, and bisexual individuals routinely put their lives on the line as members of America's armed services," Holder told Lambda Legal Tuesday night. "And if these men and women are fit for military service, then surely they are fit to mentor, to teach, and to serve as role models for the leaders of future generations." In...

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LGBT rights just got another big push from the president himself. The White House on Friday issued a proclamation by President Barack Obama calling on Americans to eliminate prejudice “everywhere it exists,” declaring June as Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Pride Month.

(VIDEO-AT-LINK) President Barack Obama congratulated Michael Sam on Saturday for being the first openly gay football player taken in the National Football League draft, the White House said in a statement. "From the playing field to the corporate boardroom, LGBT Americans prove everyday that you should be judged by what you do and not who you are," Obama said. He also congratulated the NFL and the St. Louis Rams, the team that drafted Sam. Sam, an All-American defensive end who played for the University of Missouri, made history when he was picked by the Rams in the seventh and final...

Coast Guard Commandant Adm. Robert Papp said that in 2010 Obama told U.S. military leaders to accept his push for gays in the military, and that if they didn't, they could take the "opportunity to resign [their] commissions." Papp said these things in a video BuzzFeed obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request. The video shows a speech Papp delivered to Coast Guard Academy cadets during which he was asked how he would deal with enforcing an order with which he didn't agree. He used the story of his 2010 meeting with Obama as an example of how service...

President Obama worked successfully to end discrimination against gays in the military and moved swiftly to implement a Supreme Court ruling protecting married gay couples from federal discrimination. But gay rights advocates are upset about something he has not done that they say he could accomplish with a pen stroke: an executive order banning federal contractors from discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity. Advocates say an order would provide employment protections for about 11 million workers who currently have none. Many of the nation's largest companies and 21 states, including California, already have policies or laws against sexual-orientation...

Troops based at the Kadena Air Base in Japan know how to party. On Saturday, six gay and straight service members applied some of their finest makeup and lip synced to "I Wanna Dance with Somebody" in what is believed to be first drag queen and king show on an American military base. The show was thrown in support for the base's recently formed OutServe-SLDN chapter, a nonprofit advocacy group for the army's LGBT community.

Uganda's president signed a law imposing harsh penalties for homosexuality on Monday, defying protests from rights groups, criticism from Western donors and a U.S. warning that it will complicate relations. The new bill strengthened existing punishments for anyone caught having gay sex, imposing jail terms of up to life for "aggravated homosexuality" - including sex with a minor or while HIV-positive. It criminalized lesbianism for the first time and made it a crime to help individuals engage in homosexual acts. Gay rights activists in Uganda said they planned a legal challenge. Ugandan officials broke into loud applause as President Yoweri...

Secretary of State Kerry: promoting gay rights abroad ‘at the very heart’ of U.S. policy by Kirsten Andersen WASHINGTON, D.C., June 10, 2013 (LifeSiteNews) – Secretary of State John Kerry wishes homosexuals around the world a “Happy Pride Month.”  That was the message conveyed in a recorded message released Friday to employees of the U.S. State Department, in which he outlined the bureaucracy’s robust approach to promoting homosexual advocacy throughout the world.“I wanted to take a moment to join people around the world in celebrating Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Pride month,” Kerry said in the message.“This month is about...

The Senate passed historic gay rights legislation Thursday to bar discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity in the workplace, another victory for the gay rights movement that has been gaining favor in the courts and electoral politics. Senators voted 64 to 32 to approve the Employment Non-Discrimination Act. The vote marked the first time lawmakers had approved legislation to advance gay rights since repealing the military’s ban on gay men and lesbians in uniform in late 2010 and came two days after Illinois became the 15th state to legalize same-sex marriage. Just four months ago the U.S. Supreme...

President Obama turned blogger on Sunday night, making an impassioned plea in the Huffington Post for Congress to pass a long-delayed measure to ban workplace discrimination based on sexual orientation. The bill, called the Employment Non-Discrimination Act, or ENDA, is set for a Senate vote on Monday, and proponents are upbeat about its prospects for passage.

Updated at 5 p.m.: The Georgia National Guard this afternoon indicated it intends to ignore a directive from Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel and will continue to send same-sex spouses of National Guard personnel elsewhere for benefits guaranteed by the Pentagon. “The State of Georgia does not recognize same sex marriages and is not authorizing the Georgia National Guard to process the applications for same-sex married benefits at state facilities. Any personnel seeking to apply for same-sex married benefits will be referred to federal facilities.” The statement was in response to this piece by the Associated Press: Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel...

In an almost unnoticed development, the Labor Department this week ordered all employers in the United States, whether they operate in a state that recognizes gay marriage or not, to give health benefits, pension benefits, and 401(k) privileges to the "spouses" of homosexuals. Tom Perez, the labor secretary, made it clear that this ruling applies in all 50 states, not just the 13 which have foolishly recognized marriage based on the infamous crime against nature. Thus same-sex marriage has now been imposed by bureaucratic fiat on the 37 states who have refused to recognize it. This is tyranny of the...

On September 18, the Obama Labor Department announced that married same-sex couples must receive the same pensions, 401(k)s, health plans, and employee benefits as heterosexual married couples, regardless of whether they live in one of the 37 states where same-sex marriage is illegal. "This decision represents a historic step forward toward equality for all American families," said Labor Secretary Thomas Perez. "I have directed the department's agency heads to ensure that they are implementing the decision in a way that provides maximum protection for workers and their families." The Labor Department said its interpretation "provides a uniform rule of recognition...

Before leaving for home after the Group of 20 summit, President Barack Obama sat down with Russian civil society activists on Friday evening to assure them that he would keep pressing Moscow to respect human rights, some of the activists said. But Obama also explained to them why this wasn't always possible. The meeting was held several hours after two dozen of gay activists rallied in St. Petersburg to protest Russia's new law banning gay propaganda, which prompted some activists to call for the boycott of the 2014 Winter Games in Sochi. Igor Kochetkov, the head of LGBT Network, who...

The gifted “overcharge” reset button is going to need replacing soon.Last month, Obama infuriated Vladimir Putin by referring to him as a “bored kid in the back of the classroom.” and cancelled his bilateral meeting with Putin. To add to the tension, instead of meeting with Putin, on Thursday President Obama will meet with the LGBT activists in St. Petersburg while visiting the area during the G20 summit. Buzzfeed reported: Four Russian non-governmental organizations told BuzzFeed Monday they had been invited to the meeting, scheduled for this Thursday at St. Petersburg’s Crowne Plaza Hotel. The groups include veteran human rights activists Lev Ponomarev and...

President Obama will meet with several LGBT groups during his trip later this week to St. Petersburg, a move likely to ruffle Russian President Vladimir Putin after the recent passage of a series of anti-gay laws. The president will meet with human rights activists Lev Ponomarev and Lyudmila Alexeyeva, legal aid NGO director Pavel Chikov, and Coming Out, a St. Petersburg-based LGBT organization, according to a report in BuzzFeed. The decision to meet with the activists in not unprecedented — Obama also met with human rights leaders in 2009 — but comes amid a period of heightened tension with the...

We are only a month removed from the Supreme Court decision to strike down Section 3 of the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), and President Obama’s Office of Personnel Management is already pushing federal benefits for federal employees who have been legally married to their same-sex wife or husband. In addition, OPA is also extending these benefits to “annuitants” or retired federal employees. What this means is, if you are retired from your federal job and legally marry someone of the same-sex, you are now eligible to receive federal benefits.

The White House will hold a roundtable event on issues facing the bisexual community next month, according to a report in the Washington Blade. The closed-door meeting is likely the first of its kind in the Obama administration, the paper reported. According to the event's invitation, it will take place Sept. 23 in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building across the street from the West Wing. “Participants and administration officials will discuss a range of topics including health, HIV/AIDS, domestic and intimate partner violence, mental health, and bullying,” White House LGBT liaison Gautam Raghavan said.