Salem-News.com Gay Rights articles

President Signs Executive Order Banning LGBT Job Discrimination

This order affects 24,000 companies that employ about 28 million workers, or about one-fifth of the nation’s workforce.

(WASHINGTON, D.C.) - Oregon’s Senator Jeff Merkley, the lead Senate sponsor of the Employment Non-Discrimination Act and the leading congressional advocate for an executive order to bar federal contractors from discriminating against LGBT Americans in the workplace, released the following statement on President Obama’s signing of an executive order that bans workplace discrimination against millions of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender employees of federal contractors.

92 Percent of LGBT People Seek Treatment for One or More Mental or Physical Disorders

For the first time, LGBTQ people have access to comprehensive treatment that recognizes and addresses all of the significant issues they face.

(PORTLAND, Ore. ) - Armed with compelling new data from Hazelden's Butler Center for Research, Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation, the nation's leading addiction treatment provider, has tailored an innovative treatment model specifically for the millions of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and questioning people who seek lifelong freedom from substance abuse.

"New data tell us LGBTQ individuals come to treatment with deeper and more complex trauma," explains Buster Ross, director of Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation's LGBTQ-Integrative Treatment Program, and a prominent national voice at the intersection of sexual health and substance abuse recovery.

Presbyterian Pastors Can Now Marry Same Sex Couples

The presbyteries have a year to vote on the change, according to Kathy Melvin, a church spokeswoman.

(DETROIT, Mich) - The Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) voted Thursday to allow pastors to marry same-sex couples in states where it is legal, the church said on its Twitter account.

To become church law, the change would need to be approved by a majority of 172 local presbyteries.

President Set to Sign Historic Order Banning LGBT Discrimination

Close to one quarter of the workforce in the country is made up of federal workers.

(NEW YORK) - President Barack Obama is set to sign an executive order that will ban government contractors from discriminating employees base on sexual orientation or gender identity.

The order would build on existing workers’ protections, which prohibit federal contractors and subcontractors from showing prejudices on employees base on their sex, religion, race, color, or national origin.