President Obama will sign an executive order on Monday barring discrimination against lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender employees of companies contracted by the federal government, reports the New York Times. It will not include a religious exemption requested by many faith-based organizations. 

This order represents the first time that federal employees will explicitly receive protection on the basis of gender identity. With this move, the president joins other Democrats in the Senate who are pushing back against a broader wave of faith-based organizations requesting accommodations in federal laws after the Hobby Lobby case. 

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The day after the Hobby Lobby case was decided, leaders of religious groups sent a letter to Mr. Obama asking that “an extension of protection for one group not come at the expense of faith communities.” 

An organizer of the letter, Michael Wear, described the letter as a request to ensure that the executive order will provide “robust” protection of religious service organizations that uphold religious-based moral standards for their staff members. Gay rights groups, however claimed that it would be unacceptable to allow such organizations, which receive taxpayer dollars to refuse to hire employees simply based on their sexual orientation.

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