This is a big fucking deal. It's something that LGBT activists have been demanding for years—and it's something that candidate Obama promised the LGBT community in 2008. BuzzFeed:

The White House Monday will announce that new rules barring federal contractors from discriminating on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity are being drafted, BuzzFeed has learned. More than two years after the White House first rejected pursuing an executive order implementing the protections, President Obama is moving on the issue a week after talking about the important role that administrative action can play in advancing LGBT rights.... The Obama administration has maintained in the past that the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA) is its preferred path for LGBT workplace protections, but Monday’s announcement signals an acknowledgement that, despite Senate passage last fall, the bill is not likely to move in the House this year.