2 NOV. 21 / 28, 2013 METROWEEKLY.COM METROWEEKLY.COM NOV. 21 / 28, 2013 3 Metro Weekly, always online, returns to newsstands Dec. 5. NewsLGBT Happy Thanksgiving New Push for Obama Action New ENDA attention doesn’t eclipse activists’ hope for executive order by Justin Snow ITH LANDMARK LEG- islation that would out- law anti-LGBT work- place discrimination Whaving hit a wall in the House of Repre- sentatives, the White House is once again deflecting calls for President Obama to use his executive authority to act. For years now, the most LGBT-friend- ly administration in American history has voiced its opposition to an executive order that could be signed by the presi- dent today to prohibit federal contractors from discriminating on the basis of sexu- al orientation and gender identity. The administration’s argument has been a simple one: Obama supports pas- OFFICIAL WHITE HOUSE PHOTO BY PETE SOUZA sage of the Employment Non-Discrimi- Obama nation Act (ENDA), which would protect Obama could end discrimination that is top 20 Fortune-ranked companies, which nearly all Americans from anti-LGBT known to be occurring today. includes ExxonMobil, 13 received scores workplace discrimination rather than Indeed, corporations such as Exxon- of 100 percent. just federal contractors. For advocates Mobil, which is one of the government’s There is a long history of American who have found an ally in the president top 100 contractors, would be forced to presidents protecting federal contractors on nearly every LGBT issue, the argu- adopt protections for LGBT employees. through executive action when Congress ment has been even simpler: You can In May, for the 14th consecutive year, won’t act. Companies doing more than support both. ExxonMobil shareholders voted over- $10,000 of work per year for the federal “President Obama is empowered to whelmingly to reject expanding work- government are already prohibited from sign a long-pending executive order that place protections to include sexual ori- discrimination on the basis of race, color, would protect the employees of federal entation and gender identity. That same religion, national origin or sex under an contractors from discrimination on the month, Freedom to Work filed a com- executive order first issued by President basis of sexual orientation and gender plaint against ExxonMobil with the Illi- Lyndon Johnson. identity,” Human Rights Campaign Pres- nois Department of Human Rights after And as advocates are eager to point ident Chad Griffin said in a statement. conducting a test that allegedly showed out, Obama taking executive action to “This order is not a silver bullet, and the company gave preference to a non- stamp out existing discrimination today ENDA is vitally necessary after the order LGBT applicant who was less qualified doesn’t just make sense, but was a prom- is signed. But the Human Rights Cam- than an LGBT applicant. ise he made as a candidate for president. paign has long argued that, by signing In 2012, more than $505 million in fed- On Feb. 25, 2008, Obama filled out the order, President Obama can extend eral contracts was awarded to the com- a presidential-candidate questionnaire workplace protections to over 16 million pany. According to HRC’s 2013 Corporate for the Houston GLBT Political Caucus. American workers.” Equality Index, ExxonMobil earned a Answering a number of questions about By signing such an executive order, score of -25. Of all Fortune 500 compa- his positions on LGBT equality, in ques- which Metro Weekly reported in January nies, 88 percent have a nondiscrimination tion No. 6 Obama was asked if he would 2012 has been given the okay by the La- policy for sexual orientation and 57 per- support a nondiscrimination policy that bor Department and Justice Department, cent have one for gender identity. Of the includes sexual orientation and gender 4 NOV. 21 / 28, 2013 METROWEEKLY.COM New Push for Obama Action OFFICIAL WHITE HOUSE PHOTO BY PETE SOUZA METROWEEKLY.COM NOV. 21 / 28, 2013 5 LGBTNews identity for federal contractors. Obama not sign the executive order. A White the grounds that “people are already responded “Yes.” House spokesman provided no updates protected in the workplace” and ENDA With ENDA having cleared the Sen- on the study Tuesday. would result in frivolous lawsuits, the ate with a bipartisan 64-32 vote earlier If the White House is reconsidering its White House’s response has been sharp. this month, Freedom to Work President position on executive action, it’s dropping “[T]hose who oppose passage of Tico Almeida says Obama should “seize few hints. White House press secretary ENDA in the House and throw up a lot this moment to sign the executive order Jay Carney has taken a number of ques- of reasons why, the reasons they cite that will create enforceable workplace tions on the executive order before and are reasons that we’ve heard in the past protections in almost one quarter of after the Senate’s ENDA vote. In each re- in opposition to seminal civil rights leg- American jobs.” sponse, Carney has deflected and returned islation,” Carney said. “And those who “Every day that passes without the focus to those standing in ENDA’s way. opposed previous civil rights legislation executive order has a human cost to gay “Basic equality is fundamental to who were wrong, and history has proved them and transgender employees who fear for we are as a nation,” Carney told report- wrong. And those who oppose passage of their job security, and the ongoing delays ers. “And our history is, in part, a story of ENDA are wrong, and history will prove also costs taxpayers who should not have efforts and struggles to reach that ideal them wrong.” to subsidize harassment and discrimina- where equality is not only an aspiration But on the executive order, to which tion,” Almeida added. “I maintain faith but a fact. The Employment Non-Dis- the White House’s opposition has long the President will keep this campaign crimination Act is a piece of that story, been a point of frustration and puzzle- promise.” and it ought to be passed by Congress, ment for advocates, the next steps of ac- For more than a year, the White House passed by the House as it was by the Sen- tion do not rest with the speaker. has said it is studying the issue of LGBT ate, because this President will sign it into “We urge the House of Representa- workplace discrimination. The White law.” tives to pass ENDA immediately,” said House study was among the consolations With House Speaker John Boehner, HRC’s Griffin, “and we call on President made by White House senior adviser who voted against a non-trans-inclusive Obama to send a clear message in support Valerie Jarrett to advocates in April 2012 version of ENDA in 2007, appearing en- of workplace fairness by signing this ex- when it was announced Obama would trenched in his opposition to ENDA on ecutive order.” l ARYLAND DEL. HEATH- er Mizeur (D-Montgom- ery Co.) has officially an- nounced her selection of theM Rev. Delman Coates as her running mate in her bid to become Maryland’s first female governor and country’s first out lesbian governor. Coates, the pastor of the 8,000-mem- ber Mt. Ennon Baptist Church in Clinton, Md., brings racial, gender and – perhaps most importantly – geographic balance to Mizeur’s ticket, potentially allowing the campaign to better compete in vote- rich Prince George’s County, which is the home base of Lt. Gov. Anthony Brown, one of Mizeur’s rivals for the Democratic Coates nomination. Mizeur’s other Democratic COURTESY OREGON DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION opponent, Doug Gansler, made a similar play for the county’s voters by selecting Del. Jolene Ivey (D-Prince George’s Co.) Mizeur Taps Coates as his running mate. Mizeur insisted, however, at a Nov. 13 event before a packed room at the Ameri- can Legion Post 41 headquarters that she as Running Mate did not choose Coates based on a cam- Hitting on progressive themes, Maryland duo downplay historic candidacy paign calculation. and “identity politics” “I am not just picking a running mate for an election season,” Mizeur said. “This wasn’t a calculation based on how do you win a campaign. I am choosing a partner by John Riley who is best situated to help me deliver on a shared vision for the future of Maryland.” Praising Coates as a friend and confi- dant with a “brilliant mind and a strong 6 NOV. 21 / 28, 2013 METROWEEKLY.COM METROWEEKLY.COM NOV. 21 / 28, 2013 7 LGBTNews and caring heart,” Mizuer emphasized Coates’s dedication toric, and that’s important,” Coates said, adding in a joke that to progressive causes and record of defending social justice he believes he would be the first “completely bald” lieutenant throughout his life – including, most prominently, his willing- governor. “It’s what makes being a part of a pluralistic demo- ness to stand up for marriage equality, even appearing in ads in cratic society exciting. But people care mostly about results, not late 2012 for the Marylanders for Marriage Equality coalition identity politics. that urged voters to approve Question 6, the ballot initiative al- “When Heather first approached me about her campaign and lowing same-sex couples to obtain Maryland marriage licenses. told me she was running, the first thing she said to me was, ‘Del- “[Coates] is known as a charismatic leader, an innovative man, this campaign is not about making history. It’s about mak- thinker, and a risk-taking change agent,” Mizeur said. “Our ef- ing a difference,’” Coates recounted.