In 2014 President Obama issued an executive order barring gender identity discrimination both in the federal government and in businesses contracting with the government. Now the Republican House is doing something about it.
The Republican-majority House Armed Services Committee on Thursday voted to gut President Barack Obama's executive orders that ban discrimination against LGBT people by all federal contractors. The Russell Amendment, sponsored by Oklahoma anti-gay Republican Steve Russell (photo), passed 33-29.
As usual, the bill as framed as necessary to protect the "religious" right to discriminate against people, mirroring Republican efforts in states like North Carolina. And you have to wonder about the timing, given that those states have been the targets of massive backlash, condemnations, and boycotts.
Just to cap things off: Like the Republican efforts in the states, even some religious groups are alarmed, calling it so vaguely worded and sweeping that it may gut far more than just gender identity anti-discrimination law.
This has been your daily update on the Republican drive to strip the protections of law and government from anyone who isn't them. An obsession with their various bigotries may really be the only thing holding the party together these days.
