Tweet
At today’s press briefing, Jay Carney was asked about the status of the executive order that would bar discrimination against LGBTs by federal contractors. This came up because on Wednesday oil conglomerate (and federal contract0r) ExxonMobil held its shareholder meeting, and a vote on LGBT non-discrimination protections was rejected strongly, 80% to 20%. It’s notable that Mobil led on this issue as one of the first companies to include sexual orientation in its non-discrimination policy — after the merger, Exxon rescinded that policy, along with the benefits to the same-sex partners of gay employees.
Carney was left to say that the President still can’t manage to get a pen in his hand and sign an executive order, but that he might talk to ExxonMobil about its discriminatory practices, based on the promise President Obama made, saying he “was committed to directly engaging with and educating all sectors of the business community” about non-discrimination policies. From the White House official transcript of today’s briefing:
Q: The other thing I want to ask you about is, there was a vote yesterday among Exxon Mobil shareholders to include LGBT non-discrimination protections for its more than 80,000 workers that work at the corporation. The shareholders voted down that proposal but it’s still possible for the board to accept it without the shareholders taking action. Back in April, when you talked about the executive order not happening at this time, you said that the administration was committed to directly engaging with and educating all sectors of the business community from major corporations to contractors to small businesses, and raising public awareness about the human and financial cost of discrimination in the workforce. Following up with these words, will the administration call on Exxon Mobil to adopt that non-discrimination policy?
MR. CARNEY: Well, that is certainly our position, and what I said in April holds true today. And those kinds of conversations, broadly speaking, continue to take place — have taken place and will continue to take place. I don’t have anything specifically for you on this case and this vote, which just took place. But broadly, yes, that’s our position.
Q: Has the administration communicated — any communications at all with Exxon Mobil?
MR. CARNEY: Again, I can tell you broadly that those kinds of conversations have [been] had. Our position and views on this are well known. That’s why the President supports ENDA, a legislative solution to this discrimination. And those conversations will continue. I just don’t have anything to report to you on specific conversations with specific companies or business leaders.
Q: In the past year — the past decade, Exxon Mobil has taken more than $1 billion in federal contracts. In the wake of this vote, will the administration revisit the idea of issuing that executive order, barring federal contractors from taking money if they don’t have non-discrimination policies based on sexual orientation and gender identity?
MR. CARNEY: Well, we don’t expect that an EO of that nature will be issued at this time. We are working, as I’ve said in the past, with Congress. We support legislation that has been introduced, and we will continue to work to build support for it. We believe that the legislative avenue here is the right avenue to pursue at this time.
Q: How can the legislative avenue be right at this time when Republicans control Congress? How will that legislation get through the Republican-controlled Congress?
MR. CARNEY: Well, because it’s the right thing to do.
It’s not like the President can’t walk and chew gum at the same time — the EO can be in place, positively affecting hundreds of thousands of LGBTs afraid of coming out in the workplace, for instance — while a legislative solution is worked on.
19 Comments
The President’s marriage announcement pretty much sucked the life out of the ENDA EO. Here’s to hoping we can bring it back into the forefront!
I keep wondering why the White House is afraid of ENDA. The only think I can come up with is that he’s afraid of losing donations to his super-PAC from federal contractors. His reluctance here just makes no sense.
I miss Scott McClellan. Scotty was far more entertaining and candid than O’s carney huckster.
From the EO 8802 wiki: “Executive Order 8802, also known as the Fair Employment Act, was signed by President Franklin D. Roosevelt on June 25, 1941, to prohibit racial discrimination in the national defense industry. It was the first federal action, though not a law, to promote equal opportunity and prohibit employment discrimination in the United States.”
“The order required federal agencies and departments involved with defense production to ensure that vocational and training programs were administered without discrimination as to “race, creed, color, or national origin.” All defense contracts were to include provisions that barred private contractors from discrimination as well.”
But I guess FDR was wrong to sign that executive order. According to the Obama Administration, he should have waited for Congress to take it up. I wonder if someone could ask Carney whether Obama approves of FDR’s policy.
I’m joking, of course. Today’s Democrats don’t approve of much of anything FDR did, the damn socialist.
Score another point for Fierce Advocacy.
My, my… Pam talking shit…sortakinda…about Obama.
Heavens to murgatroid.
)
The only thing the wh want is LGBT money and votes then it’s under the bus for you. He only understands what his paymaster say $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$. How can anyone be suprised by this.
Color me unsurprised both at ExMob & BHO.
In this once-great nation, the 99% is truly on its own.
“His reluctance here just makes no sense.”
Unless he really does not like gays and lesbians. Of course, if that were true he would oppose marriage equality his entire life until gay and lesbian donors threatened to cut him off.
“But I guess FDR was wrong to sign that executive order. According to the Obama Administration, he should have waited for Congress to take it up.”
Well, you know how it goes: the buck stops somewhere else.
“We”? Who’s “we”? Carney and that mouse in his pocket? Hey, Jay! What the Hell do you mean you “don’t expect that an EO of that nature will be issued…”? George W Bush isn’t still the President, Obama is. If your guy doesn’t have the gumption to sign the ENDA EO, at least have the balls to say so and don’t try to phrase it like it’s somebody else’ responsibility. You sound like Karl Rove.
Moron.
I commented on a post from Scott Rose yesterday, that has since disappeared, that was a letter to an unelected person, Mitt Romney, that conflated the Holocaust with the impending persecution of the LBGT community. I merely pointed out that to do so was to trivialize the importance of the Holocaust and I was subjected to verbal attacks by someone with the screen name “occupyequality”. Perhaps Mr. Rose should compose a letter to Obama, minus the hyperbole of course. Obama got his equality while he allows those still discriminated against to suffer.
I’ve thought for quite some time now that the stench of Rove (not to mention the sulphuric stink of Kissinger) hangs over ObamaCo. Wouldn’t surprise me one iota if those two were part of the cabal pulling the marionette strings. JMHO, of course.
Exactly. Just like the rest of us “liberals,” the LGBT community can go get “f*cked” per former CoS, Rahm Emanuel. No diff whether gay or straight, we’re all just ret*rded and need to be drug tested, but hey: where’s your money-honey cuz I suck less than Rmoney.
Why do you think he gave the tepid endorsement to marriage equality just before his Clooney bash, when he could have made the statement before the vote in NC? He did mention that he deferred to the states, of course.
Gay or straight, we’re all just a bunch of “fucking retards” who should just stfu and support the administration because Obama sucks less and because….ponies! They are the one percent and they think you’re stupid and are convinced that you’re powerless.
Agree with you but made a minor edit. They hope that those of us who have figured out what’s happening feel powerless.
I still Obot friends who wax lyrical daily about the fabulousness of Barry Zero & how very very very amazingly wonderful he is, plus Unicorns! Shitting rainbows! w00t.
Never ceases to amaze me, but so many on the so-called left are just as authoritarian and easily manipulated as many on the right. Not much difference, just like there’s buggery of a diff between the BarackStar and Mittens.
Bah humbug!
Of course, Barry Zero kowtowed to ExMOB… they, not YOU or ME, pay him handsomely to do just that!
The cognitive dissonance on the left is more stunning than that on the right. The left are supposed to be able to analyze the facts and draw reasonable conclusions. In the case of dealing with 0, the obots lose all of their mental abilities.
It amazes me that so much stupidity exists too but the numbers have always broken down about the same: You’ve got about a third of the people who trend right, about a third lean left and about a third who are either apathetic or more policy oriented. We, as policy wonks, are in a vanishingly tiny minority. The rest of that final third of the voting public either chooses sides like they choose a sports team or they try to go with what they perceive as the “winning side”. I figure out of the fraction of people who regularly vote, maybe a few percent know or care about policy outside the “D vs R” paradigm. That fraction is so small that the toady media lumps us in with the incorrectly named “undecideds”.
Obysmal is just waiting until his Terror Tuesday crowd denounce teh gays as militants.
Then he’ll just drone them all.
The War of Error continues.