President Barack Obama will sign on Monday an executive order that would prohibit federal contractors from discriminating against employee gender identity and sexual orientation that would affect nearly 24,000 U.S. companies with a workforce of about 28 million.

After the Supreme Court had ruled last month to grant exemptions to religious companies in providing birth control to its employees in the Burwell vs. Hobby Lobby case, the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community (LGBT) had voiced concerns that sweeping exemptions would also be granted to religious federal contractors about LGBT discrimination.

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According to a senior administration official, the exemptions provided in a 2002 order by President W. Bush that provided leeway for religious contractors to hire employees based on religion would still stay.

 For instance, exemption would be given to ministers.

Religious groups would also be allowed to hire individuals based on a particular religion, the New York Daily News cited.

Gender rights groups argued against the religious exemption and called for an anti-bias legislation. However, some groups acknowledged it as a political price for Republican acceptance in Congress while others expressed approval of the new order.

Interfaith Alliance president Rev. C. Welton Gaddy said that while religious freedom should be respected, he doesn't agree with some groups who use religion to defend acts of "overt discrimination."

Obama's executive order would augment two existing orders.

The first, enacted by President Lyndon Johnson in 1965, would add sexual orientation and gender identity to the list of protected categories for federal contractors.

The second, a 1969 order by President Richard Nixon, would include gender identity as a group protected from discrimination by federal contractors.

In 2012, the rule by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission was enacted but failed due to lack of proper enforcement.

The LGBT community is hopeful that Obama's order to be signed on Monday would be effective against eliminating workplace discrimination in federal contractor companies.

TagsLGBT discrimination, federal contractors, workplace discrimination, Human Rights, LGBT rights, religious exemptions, religious freedom