President Barack Obama will sign an executive order on Monday barring federal contractors from discriminating on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity, the White House said on Friday.
The order does not include new exemptions for religious organizations, a fact that was cheered by gay rights activists.
Some religious leaders had pressed Obama for added flexibility in executing the rules, but senior administration officials said that had not been granted.
Instead, protections already allowed for religious entities from previous non-discrimination rules were left in place but not expanded.
Religious organization would be barred from making hiring decisions based on sexual orientation or gender identity, but exceptions would be allowed for ministers, and groups would be allowed to favor individuals of a particular religion.
It has some religious exemption though, it didn't over turn a previous order's provision put in place by Bush
It's not as bad as people have feared, but I wish it didn't have any at all.
By the way in your face, EXXONMobile, one of the biggest companies to refuse to add anti-discrimination laws for LGBT. They kept voting no for almost twenty years
A move that affects 24,000 companies employing roughly 28 million workers, or about one-fifth of the nation's workforce -- and it explicitly bans discrimination against federal employees based on their gender identity. Making sure T in LGBT is included
