November, 07 2013, 02:46pm EDT
Freedom to Work Applauds Passage of ENDA in the Senate; Campaign Now Moves to House of Representatives and the White House
WASHINGTON
Statement by Tico Almeida, founder and president of Freedom to Work, a national organization dedicated to ending LGBT workplace discrimination, on the final passage of the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA) in the Senate today:
"The Senate has taken a bi-partisan and historic step towards ensuring that gay and transgender Americans have the same workplace protections that give all Americans a fair shot to succeed on the job. Our fight now moves to the House of Representatives where Speaker Boehner and the Republican Conference will have to decide which side of history they want to stand on. We will work with our Republican allies to push Speaker Boehner to allow this vote for the good of the country and the good of his party.
Speaker Boehner is not the only one who needs to act. President Obama should sign the executive order that will immediately protect LGBT Americans in one quarter of the jobs in our nation's workforce. The President made this campaign promise to LGBT voters over five years ago, and he should not stall or hide behind inaction in Congress any longer. The Senate did it's work, and now both Speaker Boehner and President Obama have their own job to do. We will not rest until they take action and LGBT workplace protections become the law of the land."
Freedom to Work's petition urging President Obama to sign an executive order adding LGBT workplace protections to federal contracts already has more than 185,000 signatures.
VIEW THE PETITION HERE: https://www.change.org/petitions/president-obama-sign-the-executive-ord...
In the lead up to the Senate vote, Freedom to Work ran a voter mobilization program that phone-banked and patched through phone calls for thousands of registered voters to six target Republican Senate offices, including Sen. Rob Portman (R-OH), Sen. Kelly Ayotte (R-NH), and Sen. Pat Toomey (R-PA). The LGBT organization also partnered with Latino leaders to engage the Latino community in this campaign, and as a result, the Republican Senators from Arizona and Nevada received calls from thousands of registered Latino voters who support LGBT fairness and told Sen. John McCain (R-AZ), Sen. Jeff Flake (R-AZ) and Sen. Dean Heller (R-NV) to stand on the right side of history.
FreedomtoWork.org is a national organization committed to banning workplace harassment and career discrimination against lesbians, gay men, bisexuals, and transgender Americans through public education, policy analysis, and legal work.
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