American Civil Liberties Union

It was recently revealed in internal strategy memos from the anti-gay National Organization for Marriage that the organization hoped to pit racial and ethnic minorities against the LGBT community as a way to defeat and rollback gay rights advances, specifically marriage for same-sex couples. The memos included the following: The strategic goal of this project is to drive a wedge between gays and blacks — two key Democratic constituencies. Another expressed goal was to make opposition to marriage for same-sex couples a "key badge of Latino identity."

Late Wednesday afternoon, it was reported that the Obama administration had made the decision to delay issuing an executive order to ensure that federal contractors receiving tax dollars do not discriminate against applicants and employees based on their sexual orientation or gender identity.

The decision to delay issuing the executive order is extremely disappointing. The reality remains that it is legal to fire or refuse to hire someone based on their sexual orientation in 29 states. Those who are transgender can be fired or denied employment solely based on their gender identity in 34 states. The costs of LGBT workplace discrimination are especially heavy on gay and transgender people of color, who have been shown to face disproportionately high rates of unemployment and poverty.

On Thursday, the ACLU, as well as partner organizations, will speak at a congressional briefing hosted by Rep. Frank Pallone (D-N.J.) on the subject of sexual orientation and gender identity discrimination in the workplace and the steps that can be taken to prevent such discrimination.

The ACLU has long fought for passage in Congress of the Employment Non-Discrimination Act, legislation that would prohibit employment discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity in most American workplaces. ENDA will allow all American workers who stand side-by-side at the workplace and contribute with equal measure in their jobs to also stand on equal footing under the law. However, the current political reality is that ENDA cannot pass this Congress. This does not, however, close off all avenues for addressing the underlying problem of workplace discrimination against LGBT Americans.