<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Rainbow_flag_and_blue_skies.jpg">Ludovic Bertron</a>/Wikimedia Commons
President Obama is planning on signing a new executive order preventing federal contractors from discriminating against LGBT employees, a White House official told the Associated Press on Monday. The order is expected to be finalized in the next few weeks and is an extension of previous orders banning employment discrimination on the basis of race, sex, religion, or national origin among federal contractors and subcontractors.
“The protections will reach over one million LGBT workers across the country, making it the single largest expansion of LGBT workplace protections in our country’s history,” ThinkProgress reports.
The White House official would not say when Obama plans to sign the order, but confirmed that the president told his staff to prepare a measure for his signature. On Tuesday, the president will travel to New York for an LGBT fundraising gala with the Democratic National Committee.
Monday’s announcement comes after years of pressure from gay rights groups calling for broader action on the issue. Last November, the Senate passed legislation banning workplace discrimination against LGBT workers, but the bill has since gone nowhere in the House.
