GOP silent on executive order banning workplace discrimination for federal LGBT employees

Huffington Post makes note of the fact that while LGBT advocates and Democratic officials hailed President Obama's signing an executive order banning workplace discrimination for federal employees and federal contractors, and the anti-gay folks sent out their blasts decrying the policy, elected Republicans have been very quiet about the move:

Perhaps nobody better illustrated this point than House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio). HuffPost asked him Thursday if he had any reaction to Obama's LGBT executive order.

"Nope," Boehner said at his weekly briefing. "The president signs a lot of executive orders."

Asked if he supports the principle of workplace protections being extended to LGBT employees, he punted again. "Listen, the president is going to make his decisions. He can," Boehner said.

On the other side, Human Rights Campaign spokesman Fred Sainz said he considers Republicans' silence golden. "While I would far prefer they speak on behalf of the equality their constituents support, it's definitely evidence of our progress when some say nothing," Sainz said.

One factor may be that Republicans simply aren't keeping up with the flurry of LGBT rights advancements. Rep. Michael Grimm (R-N.Y.), one of the eight House GOP co-sponsors of ENDA, said Thursday that he didn't know about Obama's executive order. But he emphasized that if it has the same goal as ENDA -- which it does, except that ENDA has far broader implications -- he supports it.

The only elected Republican HuffPost could find who issued a statement on the executive order was Sen. Rob Portman (R-Ohio), who has stated he supports the policy behind the executive order because "employees shouldn’t face unjust discrimination in the workplace simply because of their sexual orientation."