40,000 Petition Defense Contractor to End LGBT Harassment
An online petition launched by Change.org has gathered 40,000 signatures calling on Virginia-based DynCorp International, one of the largest defense contractors in the United States, to protect gay and lesbian employees from harassment on the job.
Tico Almeida, a civil rights lawyer and founder of anti-gay workplace discrimination organization Freedom to Work, started the online petition campaign after DynCorp International settled a lawsuit with a former employee who claimed that despite significant anti-gay harassment on the job, including being called homophobic slurs like “queer” and “faggot” in front of managers, DynCorp officials did not step in to stop the abuse.
DynCorp settled out of court with the employee earlier this month for more than $150,000.
“If DynCorp is going to continue profiting from billions of taxpayer dollars, then the corporation should have to abide by American values like judging people based on their talent and hard work, not their sexual orientation or gender identity,” said Almeida. “Our taxpayer money should never be used to subsidize bigotry and discrimination.”
While many other major defense contractors in the United States, including Raytheon, Boeing and Lockheed Martin, do offer workplace protections for LGBT employees, DynCorp International does not include sexual orientation or gender identity in its anti-harassment policy. A spokesperson for DynCorp International said that the company has not decided whether these protections are necessary yet.
“More than 40,000 people are now calling on DynCorp to join with other leading employers in their field to ensure that LGBT employees have the freedom to work without harassment or discrimination on the job,” said Almeida. “I hope that DynCorp will voluntarily improve their non-discrimination policies in response to our campaign, but if they don’t, the corporation may soon have to deal with an executive order from President Barack Obama that will require all federal contractors to adopt non-discrimination policies in order to continue profiting from taxpayer funds.”
DynCorp International is one of the leading defense contractors in the United States, earning between $2 and $3 billion a year in federal contracts. According to DynCorp, 96 percent of its profits come from business with the U.S. government.
For more information or to add your name to the petition, visit Change.org.
