[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 34, Number 22 (Monday, June 1, 1998)]
[Page 994]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Statement on Signing an Executive Order on Equal Employment Opportunity 
in the Federal Government

May 28, 1998

    Today I have signed an Executive order entitled ``Further Amendment 
to Executive Order 11478, Equal Employment Opportunity in the Federal 
Government.'' The order provides a uniform policy for the Federal 
Government to prohibit discrimination based on sexual orientation in the 
Federal civilian workforce and states that policy for the first time in 
an Executive order of the President.
    It has always been the practice of this administration to prohibit 
discrimination in employment based on sexual orientation in the civilian 
workforce, and most Federal agencies and departments have taken actions, 
such as the issuance of policy directives or memoranda from the agency 
heads, to memorialize that policy. The Executive order I have signed 
today will ensure that there is a uniform policy throughout the Federal 
Government by adding sexual orientation to the list of categories for 
which discrimination is prohibited in Executive Order 11478 (i.e., race, 
color, religion, sex, national origin, handicap, or age).
    This Executive order states administration policy but does not and 
cannot create any new enforcement rights (such as the ability to proceed 
before the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission). Those rights can be 
granted only by legislation passed by the Congress, such as the 
Employment Non-Discrimination Act. I again call upon Congress to pass 
this important piece of civil rights legislation which would extend 
these basic employment discrimination protections to all gay and lesbian 
Americans. Individuals should not be denied a job on the basis of 
something that has no relationship to their ability to perform their 
work.