View source for Executive Order 13087

{{Short description|1998 United States executive order}}
{{Use American English|date=January 2025}}
{{Infobox U.S. Presidential Document
| depiction        = President Bill Clinton signs Executive Order 13087.jpg
| depictionalt     = President Bill Clinton at his desk in the Oval Office
| depictioncaption = President [[Bill Clinton]] signs Executive Order 13087 in the [[Oval Office]] at the [[White House]], May 1998
| type             = executive order
}}
'''Executive Order 13087''' was signed by [[President of the United States|U.S. President]] [[Bill Clinton]] on May 28, 1998, amending [[Executive Order 11478]] to prohibit [[discrimination]] based on [[sexual orientation]] in the [[competitive service]] of the [[Office of Personnel Management|federal civilian workforce]].  The order also applies to employees of the government of the [[District of Columbia]], and the [[United States Postal Service]].  However, it does not apply to positions and agencies in the [[excepted service]], such as the [[Central Intelligence Agency]], [[National Security Agency]], and the [[Federal Bureau of Investigation]].

In a statement issued the same day that he signed the order, President Clinton said:<ref>{{cite web |url=http://clinton6.nara.gov/1998/05/1998-05-28-statement-on-amendment-to-eeo-executive-order.html |title=1998-05-28 Statement on Amendment to EEO Executive Order |access-date=2006-12-25 |date=1998-05-28 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120820143222/http://clinton6.nara.gov/1998/05/1998-05-28-statement-on-amendment-to-eeo-executive-order.html |archive-date=2012-08-20 |url-status=dead }}</ref> 
{{quote|The 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.}}

Federal employees cannot appeal claims of discrimination under Executive Order 13087 to the [[Equal Employment Opportunity Commission|EEOC]], but they can file complaints under the grievance procedure of the agency where they work and, under certain conditions, may appeal their claims to the [[United States Merit Systems Protection Board|Merit Systems Protection Board]] or the [[Office of Special Counsel]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.opm.gov/er/address2/Guide04.asp |title=Addressing Sexual Orientation Discrimination In Federal Civilian Employment: A Guide to Employee's Rights |access-date=2006-12-25 |author=U.S. Office of Personnel Management |author-link=Office of Personnel Management |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070114092004/http://www.opm.gov/er/address2/Guide04.asp |archive-date=2007-01-14 }}</ref>

Clinton had previously included "sexual orientation" in [[Executive Order 12968]] (1995) when listing the characteristics forbidden as the basis for discrimination when granting federal employees access to classified information.

The order applied to civilian employees of the American military,<ref>{{cite web |url=http://cpol.army.mil/library/permiss/5236.html |title=PERMISS - Civilian Sexual Orientation Policy |access-date=2006-12-25 |author=United States Army |author-link=United States Army |date=2006-06-20 |work=Personnel Management Information and Support System (PERMISS) |archive-date=2007-06-23 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070623022741/http://cpol.army.mil/library/permiss/5236.html |url-status=dead }}</ref> but not to uniformed members of the [[United States armed forces|armed forces]], who, at the time, were covered by the [[Don't ask, don't tell]] directive issued by Clinton in 1993.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://biotech.law.lsu.edu/blaw/dodd/corres/html2/d130426x.htm |title=Defense Directive 1304.26: Qualification Standards for Enlistment, Appointment, and Induction |date=December 21, 1993 |publisher=Department of Defense}}</ref>

Opponents in [[United States Congress|Congress]] objected to the Order and said that it provided special privileges and "special breaks for special interests,"<ref name=varona>{{cite web |url=http://www.fedglobe.org/actions/HRC-EOarticle.htm |title=Order Offers Equal, Not Special, Protection for Gays |access-date=2006-12-25 |author=Anthony E. Varona |author2=Kevin Layton |author3=Christine Clark-Trevino |date=1998-07-06 |work=New Jersey Law Journal |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070622153009/http://www.fedglobe.org/actions/HRC-EOarticle.htm |archive-date=2007-06-22 |url-status=dead }}</ref> Donald Devine, who headed the Office of Personnel Management from 1981 to 1995, criticized Clinton's decision to implement the non-discrimination policy by issuing an Executive Order, "issued out of the glare of public attention," and called on Congress to act to undo the President's action "before it can do much damage both to the orderly management of the government and to its equal employment policies generally."<ref name=mayer>Kenneth E. Mayer, ''With the a Stroke of a Pen: Executive Orders and Presidential Power'' (Garden City, NY: Princeton University Press, 2001), 214-5, 276n162</ref> On June 11, 1998, the conservative [[Southern Baptist Convention]] passed a resolution asking the President to rescind the order and demanding that [[United States Congress|Congress]] nullify it if he did not do so.<ref name=varona /> Later in 1998, several congressmen, including Republicans [[Bob Barr]] of Georgia and [[Joel Hefley]] of Colorado, introduced bills designed to overturn 13087 or to prohibit government agencies from spending any funds to enforce it. In August 1998, an amendment to the Commerce, Justice, State, Judiciary, and Related Agencies appropriations bill that sought to prohibit spending on behalf of 13087 failed in the House of Representatives on a vote of 176 to 252, the only recorded vote on the issue.<ref name=mayer />

According to the [[Equal Employment Opportunity Commission]]:<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.eeoc.gov/facts/fs-orientation_parent_marital_political.html |title=Facts About Discrimination Based on Sexual Orientation, Status as a Parent, Marital Status and Political Affiliation |access-date=2006-12-25 |author=U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission |author-link=Equal Employment Opportunity Commission |date=2001-07-21 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070109085252/http://www.eeoc.gov/facts/fs-orientation_parent_marital_political.html |archive-date=2007-01-09 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

{{quote|Executive Order 13087 did not create any new rights; however, it did set the stage for positive and constructive action by all units of the federal government to make certain that the workplace is one free from harassment and discrimination.}}

In 2005, the [[Human Rights Campaign]] and others claimed that "the head of the Office of Special Counsel, [[Scott Bloch]], refuses to enforce these longstanding non-discrimination protections."<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.hrc.org/Template.cfm?Section=Clarification_for_Federal_Employees_Act&Template=/TaggedPage/TaggedPageDisplay.cfm&TPLID=23&ContentID=27712 |title=Clarification of Federal Employment Protections Act |access-date=2006-12-25 |author=Human Rights Campaign |author-link=Human Rights Campaign |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061130055847/http://www.hrc.org/Template.cfm?Section=Clarification_for_Federal_Employees_Act&Template=%2FTaggedPage%2FTaggedPageDisplay.cfm&TPLID=23&ContentID=27712 |archive-date=2006-11-30 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

{{Wikisource}}

==See also==
*[[Executive order (United States)]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20041118191439/http://frwebgate.access.gpo.gov/cgi-bin/getdoc.cgi?dbname=1998_register&docid=fr02jn98-135.pdf Text of Executive Order 13087] in the [[Federal Register]] (PDF document)
*[http://www.opm.gov/er/address2/guide01.asp Office of Personnel Management, "Addressing Sexual Orientation Discrimination In Federal Civilian Employment:  A Guide to Employee's Rights"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061225160245/http://www.opm.gov/er/address2/guide01.asp |date=2006-12-25 }}
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20070622153009/http://www.fedglobe.org/actions/HRC-EOarticle.htm Federal GLOBE, "Order Offers Equal, Not Special, Protection for Gays"]
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20070807070923/http://www.fedglobe.org/actions/a.htm Federal GLOBE, "President's Order Protects Workers"]
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20070930181308/http://www.advocate.com/news_detail.asp?id=3222 ''The Advocate'', "Complaint filed against allegedly antigay Bush appointee"]
*[[s:Executive Order 12968#discrim|Executive Order 12968 of August 2, 1995]], accessed July 14, 2011 - regarding security clearances, prohibits discrimination "... on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, national origin, disability, or sexual orientation in granting access to classified information".

{{LGBTQ|rights=yes|culture=yes|history=yes}}
{{LGBT rights in the United States}}

[[Category:Executive orders of Bill Clinton|13087]]
[[Category:Discrimination in the United States]]
[[Category:History of LGBTQ civil rights in the United States]]
[[Category:LGBTQ law in the United States]]
[[Category:1998 in LGBTQ history]]
[[Category:1998 in American politics]]
[[Category:United States Office of Personnel Management]]