As a Presidential candidate in 2008, President Obama campaigned to include formal written protections for LGBT employees of Federal contractors in the form of an Executive Order. This important policy could easily be created without the input or action of Congress, but instead the White House has decided to take a course of inaction - relying on the President's "do-nothing" Congress to pass non-discrimination protections that are desperately needed today.
For historical reference, a very similar order was passed by one of our greatest presidents, FDR in 1941 when he issued Executive Order 8802, one of the first steps in ending workplace discrimination. Though expanded several times, the original wording of these protections still do not protect sexual orientation or gender identity.