He suggested that those were not grounds for discrimination against or marginalisation of gay people.
During the act's passage, conservative southern Democrats tried to wreck it by adding sex to race, religion and national origin as grounds for discrimination complaints.
Although human rights activists had hoped for stronger enforcement mechanisms, they see it as a significant step in the right direction.The inclusion of "sexual orientation" and "gender identity" as unacceptable grounds for discrimination aroused the passions of the Orthodox Church.
Unlike many other potential grounds for discrimination, genetic testing is opt-in: people must first take genetic tests before they can be disadvantaged on the basis of the results of those tests.
Pratt said that an LGBT teacher talking in "an ordinary sense about themselves or their family" and their "status" as an LGBT person should not be grounds for discrimination, because they should not have to hide their identity.
The order, which Ms. Granholm, a Democrat, signed Wednesday, adds gender identity to a list of other prohibited grounds for discrimination that includes religion, race, color, national origin, age, sex, sexual orientation, height, weight, marital status, politics, disability or genetic information.
"This proves that the finance sector is a breeding ground for discrimination and unfairness and I look forward to the Commission's proposals for action," Ms Harman said.
Harriet Harman, minister for women and equality, said the inquiry "proves that the finance sector is a breeding ground for discrimination and unfairness" and promised "tough new measures" in the equality bill.
The shadow assistant minister for equality, Louise Pratt, told the Senate that an innate attribute should not be a ground for discrimination but also recognised the rights of parents to "have children educated in accordance with their religious convictions".
Harriet Harman, the minister for Women, has renewed her attack on the financial industry, describing it as a "breeding ground for discrimination", after it emerged that women working in the City were being paid as much as 60 per cent less than their male counterparts.
Concluding that "all discrimination is therefore intentional in the sense that anyone who discriminates acts on some grounds for the discrimination" [ 43].
