The 40th anniversary of the Civil Service Reform Act — a signature accomplishment of President Jimmy Carter — fittingly falls during LGBT History Month. When Carter signed the bill into law on Oct. 13, 1978, he hailed the civil service reorganization for putting “merit principles into statute” and, critically, for defining “prohibited personnel practices.” Discrimination in the civil service on the basis of race, creed, sex, national origin, age and disability were prohibited. But this definition also eliminated discrimination “on the basis of conduct which does not adversely affect the performance of the employee or applicant or the performance of others.”

https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/2018/10/01/how-gay-rights-activists-remade-federal-government/?utm_term=.9cd02f0d0707