Statement by Tico Almeida, founder and President of Freedom to
Work, on news that Exxon-Mobil has finally added protections for LGBT
employees. Almeida is a civil rights attorney who brought forward the
historic and currently pending lawsuit Freedom to work v. ExxonMobil in
Illinois in 2013:
"Exxon's management deserves
little credit for finally adopting the LGBT fairness policies they have
rejected year after year for almost two decades, but this is an
important victory for the company's current LGBT employees and future
LGBT job applicants,
It's obvious Exxon is making these
changes now because of mounting legal pressure and the impending risk of
losing hundreds of millions of dollars in federal contracts thanks to
President Obama's executive order."
We will continue
prosecuting our civil rights lawsuit against Exxon in Illinois because
the corporation should be held accountable for its discriminatory
actions from the recent past. We will also remain vigilant and file new
cases, including under the Obama executive order, based on any new
evidence of discrimination that we find at Exxon. The new policy is a
good step, but it must be implanted meaningfully to prevent future
anti-LGBT discrimination at Exxon."
