For Immediate Release: April 26th, 2012 Contact: Brad Luna, Luna Media Group 202-812-8140 (cell) or brad@lunamediagroup.

com

New Study Praised as Further Evidence for President Obama to Sign LGBT Federal Contractor Executive Order
Williams Institute Report Shows Most Top Federal Contracts Already Have Policies in Place to Protect LGBT Employees
WASHINGTON, DC Yesterday, the Williams Institute released a report finding that 86% of all federal contractors protect against discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation, and 55% on the basis of gender identity. The combined total represents almost one-half of all federal contractors with LGBT protections, amounting to more than $249 billion in federal spending. The full report can be viewed here: http://williamsinstitute.law.ucla.edu/wpcontent/uploads/Sears-Hunter-Mallory-Report-Update-Top50-Contractors-April-2012.pdf Over the past three years, the Williams Institute, Center for American Progress, and the Human Rights Campaign have built a larger and stronger record in support of this LGBT contractor policy than has ever been built in favor of any non-discrimination executive order in the history of the United States, said Tico Almeida, president of Freedom to Work. The federal courts have dismissed each and every single legal challenge to prior executive orders banning racial and gender discrimination at federal contractors, even though those orders had a less substantial factual record. Anyone who cites the possibility of a legal challenge after President Obama signs this LGBT order is simply inventing excuses to delay our civil rights and equality under the law. There is nothing left to study. The leaders of Corporate America and the overwhelming majorities of the American people understand that workplace discrimination is wrong. The time for President Obamas signature is now. In fact, earlier this week the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) - the agency tasked with interpreting federal employment laws - unanimously ruled that transgender workers are covered under Title VII. In February 2012, Freedom to Work launched a campaign targeting a Fairfax, VA military contractor, DynCorp, for allowing anti-gay harassment in the workplace and failure to have policies in place that protect against discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity. Freedom to Work launched an online petition that garnered over 55,000 signatures and led to DynCorp instituting a change to their anti-discrimination policies, adding sexual orientation and gender identity. Top government contractors realize that discrimination is bad for the bottom line and a waste of our taxpayer money, Almeida concluded. Every day the White House waits to sign this executive order, they continue to look further and further out of touch with the reality of the workplace in Corporate America today.

Freedom to Work is a national organization committed to banning workplace harassment and career discrimination against lesbian, gay men, bisexual and transgender Americans through public education, policy analysis and legal work. For more information on Freedom to Work, please visit www.freedomtowork.org; follow Freedom to Work on Twitter @FreedomtoWork; or on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/pages/Freedom-to-Work/259455654081457 ###