“Bob Dold has stood up for the right of LGBT Americans to live their lives free from fear of discrimination, and he demonstrated true leadership by becoming the first House Republican to sign on as a co-sponsor of the Equality Act,” said HRC President Chad Griffin. “Bob Dold has shown he is committed to fairness and equality for all, and we are committed to sending him back to the House in 2016.”

In addition to supporting marriage equality and co-sponsoring the Equality Act, Dold voted to uphold President Obama’s executive order on Discrimination Against LGBT Federal Contractors. In June of 2015, Dold joined 60 Republican members of the House to uphold President Obama’s executive order on discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity.

The order explicitly protects transgender federal employees from workplace discrimination by amending an order issued by President Bill Clinton banning sexual orientation discrimination within the federal workforce. In the same order, President Obama set strong new standards banning discrimination against federal contractors, which employ 20 percent of the American workforce.

In addition to Bob Dold, HRC announced the following endorsements for incumbent members of Congress today:

• In the House, HRC has endorsed Pete Aguilar (D-CA), Brad Ashford (D-NE), Ami Bera (D-CA), Julia Brownley (D-CA), Cheri Bustos (D-IL), Bob Dold (R-IL), Gwen Graham (D-FL), Ann Kuster (D-NH), Sean Patrick Maloney (D-NY), Rick Nolan (DFL-MN), Scott Peters (D-CA), Raúl Ruiz (D-CA) and Kyrsten Sinema (D-AZ).

• In the Senate, HRC has endorsed Michael Bennet (D-CO), Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), Mark Kirk (R-IL), Patrick Leahy (D-VT), Patty Murray (D-WA), Brian Schatz (D-HI), Chuck Schumer (D-NY) and Ron Wyden (D-OR).

The Human Rights Campaign is America’s largest civil rights organization working to achieve lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender equality. HRC envisions a world where LGBT people are embraced as full members of society at home, at work, and in every community.

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