Chris Geidener at Metro Weekly has learned that, as a candidate in 2008, President Obama committed to supporting a “formal written policy of non-discrimination that includes sexual orientation and gender identity or expression … for all Federal contractors,” even though the White House now avoids addressing calls for him to sign such an Executive Order. Over 100,000 have signed a Freedom To Work Change.org petition urging the President to take action and both the Justice Department and Labor Department have approved the language, but administration officials refuse to comment on the matter.

The Obama campaign made the commitment in response to a questionnaire from the Houston GLBT Political Caucus:

The proposed executive order would ensure that the federal government only contracts with companies that protect LGBT people from discrimination, which would impact 16 million employees. The Employment Non-Discrimination Act which would prevent such discrimination nationwide and make such a policy unnecessary, but there is no hope that it will advance so long as Republicans control the House of Representatives. This is in spite of the fact that most Americans assume the protections already exist and businesses of all sizes support them.

This is not the first time the President’s actions have not lived up to his commitments for LGBT equality. In 1996, Obama committed as a candidate for the Illinois state Senate that he supported full marriage equality for same-sex couples. His position has fluctuated since then and has been in a holding pattern of “evolving” since October, 2010.

Our guest bloggers are Melissa Dunn, intern for LGBT Progress, and Crosby Burns, Research Associate for LGBT Progress.

Today marks the 103^rd International Women’s Day. On this day people around the world are coming  together to celebrate the monumental achievements women have made over the past century as well as push for further change over the next. Those changes can’t come fast enough for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender women in our nation.

Overall, these women are more likely to experience more socioeconomic and health inequalities than their heterosexual counterparts and even more inequalities than male gay and transgender Americans.  At the same time, LGBT women are the most likely female demographic to serve their country, and LGBT women of color are more likely to be raising children than their white counterparts.

CAP’s new Gay and Transgender Women By the Numbers feature takes a deeper look at the realities of this demographic on a day dedicated to the achievements of women everywhere. Here is a snapshot:

• 51 percent: The amount of black women in same-sex households who are raising children—only 20 percent of white women in same-sex households are raising children.

• 49 percent: The amount of lesbians and bisexual women who say they have had a child.

• 20 percent: The amount of female same-sex couples who are raising children and living in poverty, compared to 9 percent of married heterosexual couples who are raising children and living in poverty.

• 21.1 percent: The poverty rate of black lesbian couples versus 4.3 percent for white lesbian couples and 14.4 percent for black gay male couples.

• 35 percent: The number of black lesbians and bisexual women who have had a mammogram in the past two years, compared to 60 percent of white lesbians and bisexual women.

• Almost 50 percent: The amount of black lesbians who have experienced some form of domestic violence, compared to 25 percent of heterosexual women of all races.

• Three times more: Lesbian couples were three times more likely to serve in the U.S. military between 1990 and 2000 compared to women generally.

• 11 times more: Black lesbians are 11 times more likely to serve in the U.S. military compared to women generally.

The Catholic Diocese of Sacramento has cut all of its support for Francis House, one of the largest shelters serving homeless people in Sacramento, because its new director supports marriage equality. Despite having started as a Catholic-run charity, Francis House is now run by Rev. Faith Whitmore, a United Methodist minister who openly defied church law by marrying same-sex couples in 2008 and who also supports a woman’s right to obtain an abortion. According to spokesman Kevin Eckery, the Diocese argues it is unfair to spend parishioners money — up to $10,000 a year — on an organization whose leader does not represent Catholic values:

Eckery said he was unsure whether the diocese had received complaints about its donations to Whitmore’s agency. “But if we haven’t had one yet, we would get one,” he said. “We like to get out in front of these things.

“Francis House is a great charity, and we respect the fact that the director’s views are different from the diocese’s. But money collected during the annual appeal is very much Catholic parishioner money,” said Eckery.

“Why would we ask someone to contribute money to an organization and ask them to overlook all of those things that undermine the church’s teachings?“

This is only the latest decision that reflects an effort by the hierarchy of the Church to wipe its hands of anything that promotes LGBT equality or recognizes same-sex relationships. This particular example clearly demonstrates the bishops’ hypocrisy and expectation for special treatment. They claim that the government should support them like it does other charities, even though they pick and choose which organizations to support based on their values. They then justify their decisions by claiming they have to represent their parishioners who contribute money, but they have no consideration for the government’s interest in respecting its LGBT taxpayers.

The Catholic Church wants to have its cake and discriminate too. Don’t expect food or shelter if you’re not prepared to discriminate as well.

In his primary on Tuesday night, Samuel Wurzelbacher – aka Joe the Plumber – narrowly defeated Steven Kraus to become the Republican nominee to represent Ohio’s Ninth District. Wurzelbacher, who once said he wouldn’t run for office unless God asked him to, will face Marcy Kaptur in the race to represent the heavily Democratic district.

This morning, Wurzelbacher was interviewed on CNN’s “Early Start.” When program host Zoraida Sambolin asked him why he was qualified to serve in Congress, Wurzelbacher seemed to get agitated, saying he was “very much involved in the process of what’s going on.” When the discussion turned to his previous statements about gays and lesbians, like saying he would not let gays and lesbians near his children, the discussion got even more heated:

SAMBOLIN: Have you changed your position on this at all?

WURZELBACHER: So this is TMZ, this isn’t CNN, is what you’re saying?

SAMBOLIN: Of course it’s CNN. These are things that you said, that I would like to know if you still stand by them or if you changed your positions on them.

[...]

WURZELBACHER: Listen, in my dictionary, and everyone’s dictionary in 1970s, the word queer did mean strange and unusual. It was [sic] no slur to it. Do you challenge that?

SAMBOLIN: No, I’m just questioning whether or not you still stand on these positions on homosexuality.

WURZELBACHER: I’m trying to get where you’re coming from, what context are you using this in? Come on, you’re trying to do a ‘gotcha’ moment, it’s quite obvious.

Watch:

It is unclear why Wurzelbacher thinks a reporter asking him about his own words constitutes a “gotcha” question. As far as his fear of gays and lesbians being around children, Wurzelbacher need not worry – groups that try to paint LGBT individuals as dangerous to children often misrepresent studies on the issue to make their case. What studies actually show is that children raised in same-sex households are just as well-adjusted as those raised by a mother and father.

Reached by phone after the interview, Wurzelbacher complained, “They want to paint someone as a bigot – I don’t hate people. I am working for everybody.” But as his comments indicate, he doesn’t seem to think all of his prospective constituents deserve equal respect.

-Zachary Bernstein

Delegates from Muslim and African countries part of the 57-nation Organization of Islamic Cooperation walked out of the UN Human Rights Council’s historic hearing on LGBT equality yesterday. A diplomat from Pakistan described homosexuality as “licentious behavior promoted under the concept of ‘sexual orientation’ is against the fundamental teachings of various religions including Islam.” He added, “From this perspective, legitimizing homosexuality and other personal sexual behaviors in the name of sexual orientation is unacceptable to the OIC,” he added.

Representatives from Nigeria joined the walkout, “saying that violence against citizens based on their sexual orientation or gender identity simply didn’t occur in the state, while Mauritania, of another Arab group, all of whose members are also in the OIC, warned that any so-called attempt to impose ‘the controversial topic of sexual orientation’ would threaten to undermine progress on other human rights issues.”

A report released by the council last year found that “76 countries among the UN’s 192 members had laws criminalizing homosexual behavior” and “at least five – in particular Iran – implement the death penalty, while efforts are under way in Uganda to introduce the same punishment.” At the start of yesterday’s hearing, UN Secretary General Ban-Ki Moon issued a special message to the council, decrying violence against the LGBT community as a “monumental tragedy” that is a “stain on our collective conscience” and a “violation of international law.”