(applause)
The President: Thank you.
Thank you.
All right, everybody
have a seat.
Have a seat.
Well, welcome to the
White House everybody.
I know I'm a little late.
But that's okay because
we've got some big
business to do here.
Many of you have worked
for a long time
to see this day coming.
You organized, you spoke
up, you signed petitions,
you sent letters -- I know
because
I got a lot of them.
(laughter)
And now,
thanks to your passionate
advocacy and the
irrefutable rightness
of your cause, our government
-- government
of the people, by the
people, and for the people --
will become just a
little bit fairer.
Audience Member: Amen.
(applause)
The President:
It doesn't make
much sense, but today in
America,
millions of our fellow
citizens wake up and go to work
with the awareness
that they could lose their
job, not because
of anything they do or fail
to do, but because
of who they are -- lesbian,
gay, bisexual, transgender.
And that's wrong.
We're here to do what we
can to make it right --
to bend that arc of justice
just a little
bit in a better direction.
In a few moments, I will
sign an executive
order that does two things.
First, the federal
government
already prohibits employment
discrimination
on the basis of sexual
orientation.
Once I sign this order,
the same will
be explicitly true for
gender identity.
(applause)
And second,
we're going to prohibit
all companies that receive
a contract
from the federal government from
discriminating
against their LGBT employees.
(applause)
America's
federal contracts
should not subsidize
discrimination against
the American people.
Now, this executive
order is part
of a long bipartisan tradition.
President Roosevelt signed
an order prohibiting racial discrimination
in the national defense industry.
President Eisenhower
strengthened it.
President Johnson
expanded it.
Today, I'm going
to expand it again.
Currently, 18 states have
already banned
workplace discrimination
based on sexual orientation
and gender identity.
And over 200 cities and
localities
have done the same.
Governor Terry McAuliffe
is here; his first act as
governor was to prohibit
discrimination against
LGBT employees of the
Commonwealth of Virginia.
(applause)
Where
did Terry go?
Right back here.
I've appointed a record
number of lesbian,
gay, bisexual, and transgender
public servants
to positions across
my administration.
They are ambassadors and
federal judges,
special assistants, senior
advisors from
the Pentagon
to the Labor Department.
Every day, their talent is
put to work on behalf
of the American people.
Equality in the workplace
is not only
the right thing to do, it turns
out to be good business.
That's why a
majority of Fortune 500
companies already have
nondiscrimination
policies in place.
It is not just about
doing the right thing --
it's also about attracting and
retaining the best talent.
And there are several
business leaders
who are here today
who will attest to that.
And yet, despite all
that, in too many states
and in too many workplaces,
simply being gay,
lesbian, bisexual
or transgender can still
be a fireable offense.
There are people here
today who've
lost their jobs for that reason.
This is not speculative,
this is not a matter
of political correctness --
people lose their
jobs as a consequence of this.
Their livelihoods are
threatened,
their families are threatened.
In fact, more states now
allow same-sex
marriage than prohibit
discrimination
against LGBT workers.
So I firmly
believe that it's time
to address this injustice for
every American.
Now, Congress has spent 40
years --
four decades -- considering
legislation that would
help solve the problem.
That's a long time.
And yet they still
haven't gotten it done.
Senators
Terry [Tammy] Baldwin
and Jeff Merkley are here.
They have been champions
of this issue
for a long, long time.
We are very proud of them.
I know they will not
stop fighting until
fair treatment for all workers
is the federal
law of the land.
Everyone thanks
them for that.
(applause)
But I'm going
to do what
I can, with the authority I have, to act.
The rest of you, of
course, need
to keep putting pressure on
Congress
to pass federal legislation
that resolves this problem
once and for all.
Audience Member: Amen!
The President: Amen.
Amen.
(applause)
Got the
"amen" corner here.
(laughter)
Well -- (sings) --
(laughter)
You don't want to get
me preaching, now.
(laughter)
For more than
two centuries,
we have strived, often at great
cost, to form "a more
perfect union" -- to make
sure that "we, the people"
applies to all the people.
Many of us are only here
because others fought
to secure rights and
opportunities for us.
And we've got a
responsibility
to do the same
for future generations.
We've got an obligation to
make sure that the country
we love remains a place
where no matter
who you are, or what you look
like, or where you come
from, or how you started
out, or what your
last name is, or who you love
-- no matter what,
you can make it in this country.
That's the story
of America.
That's the story
of this movement.
I want to thank all of
you for doing your part.
We've got a long way
to go, but I hope
as everybody
looks around this room,
you are reminded of the
extraordinary progress
that we have made not
just in our lifetimes,
but in the last five years.
In the last two years.
(applause)
In the
last one year.
(applause)
We're on the
right side of history.
I'm going to sign
this executive order.
Thank you, everybody.
(applause)
(President signs bill)
The President: Thank you.
(applause)
