The federal administration is currently considering an executive order that would increase protection for members of the lesbian and gay communities.
The order would expand current protection for members of the LGBT community to contractors who do business with the federal government. The order is expected to cover at least 16 million employees. estimate that the proposed order would expand protections against discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity to between 11 million and 16 million additional workers. The LGBT workforce currently accounts for about 4% of the country's workforce.
A number of think tanks are already encouraging the President to issue the order. The Williams Institute has released a report titled the Impact of Extending Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity Nondiscrimination Requirements to Federal Contractors. According to the report, millions of Americans continue to live and work in environments that afford them no protection against gender identity and sexual orientation-based discrimination.
The report investigated the number of employees who are currently covered by the LGBT discrimination laws protecting against discrimination based on gender identity and sexual orientation, as well as the percentage of employees who currently have access to health coverage for a same-sex partner. The Williams Institute specifically looked at the number of people who would be eligible for protection if the president actually passes his order. According to the Williams Institute, many private and public companies currently have policies that ban discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity. However, many federal contractors do not have such policies, and an order like this would expand protections for the LGBT community.
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