The Obama Administration recently added language to the federal jobs website that explicitly bans gender identity-based employment discrimination under the federal Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) policy. This is the first time that employment discrimination on the basis of gender identity has been explicitly banned by the federal government. A link to the policy is now attached to all federal job posts. The policy reads, “The United States Government does not discriminate in employment on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, national origin, political affiliation, sexual orientation, gender identity, marital status, disability, age, membership in an employee organization, or other non-merit factor.” ACLU Senior Legislative Counsel Christopher Anders said in a statement, “The inclusion of gender identity in federal EEO policies is a very clear statement that the federal government will not discriminate based on gender identity. The Obama administration is demonstrating a strong commitment to an effective workforce by making clear that the federal government will not discriminate against transgender employees…Although many state governments and businesses already provide workplace protections for transgender employees, explicit protection of transgender federal employees will likely be a catalyst for many more states and businesses to apply the federal policy.” The Employee Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA) is currently pending in both the Senate and the House. National Gay and Lesbian Task Force Executive Director Rea Carey commented that “while we are pleased by the change to the federal jobs site, the Task Force will continue pressing Congress to pass a fully inclusive ENDA early this year. We need to pass ENDA and afford essential employment protections under federal law so that employers across the nation will understand that discrimination based on gender identity or sexual orientation will not be tolerated whether it is in the private or public sector.”
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