The White House has expanded equal employment opportunity protections to employees of federal contractors on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity.  On July 21, 2014, President Obama signed an Executive Order that amends two existing Executive Orders, EO 11246 and EO 11478 to ensure that federal contractor employees and federal employees are both protected from discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity.  The Executive Order does not carve out any new exceptions for religiously affiliated federal contractors, although an exception already exists allowing those organizations to favor individuals of a particular religion when making employment decisions.    The Executive Order also directs the Department of Labor to draft implementing regulations by October 19, 2014, and the Order's protections will apply to contracts entered into on or after the effective date of those regulations.  For more information, click here.