With the strokes of a pen, Obama will have very real and immediate impact on lives of LGBT people

[bigtree]

18. from Ian S. Thompson, ACLU Washington Legislative Office

VICTORY! A Historic Day for LGBT Equality



“Many of you have worked for a long time to see this day coming. You organized, you spoke up, you signed petitions, you sent letters -- I know because I got a lot of them.”

If you’ve ever questioned whether it matters to add your voice to debates about the important civil liberties issues of the day, President Obama’s words from earlier today provide a clear answer. Laura Murphy, director of the ACLU’s Washington Legislative Office, and I were two of the guests on hand this morning to witness President Obama’s signing of an historic executive order to protect LGBT people from workplace discrimination.

The ACLU and our hundreds of thousands of members and activists across the country helped to make this day possible. Together with our partners at All Out, 81,693 people signed a petition urging to President Obama to sign this executive order without an exemption for religiously affiliated contractors.

Had such an exemption been included in the executive order, it would have enabled taxpayer-funded employment discrimination against LGBT people. Thankfully, President Obama – at your urging – stood strong on the side of basic fairness and equal treatment for LGBT people by rejecting calls for such an exemption.

It goes without saying that we still have much work to do to achieve the goal of full civil rights protections for LGBT people. It’s important, however, to take time to celebrate the significant landmarks along the way. Today was such a day. Thank you for helping to make it possible.



signed executive order