President Barack Obama signed an executive order this week barring federal contractors from discriminating against employees on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity.
Executive order 11246, first issued by President Lyndon B. Johnson in 1965, prohibits federal contractors and subcontractors from discriminating against employees on the basis of race, color, religion, sex or national origin. President Obama amended that executive order to include the categories of sexual orientation and gender identity, meaning transgender employees.
