U.S. lawmakers might want to check out Ukraine's new LGBT-inclusive law

Ukraine’s parliament passed national employment nondiscrimination legislation Thursday, BuzzFeed News reports.

The law protects citizens on the basis of race, religion, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, suspected presence of HIV/AIDS, ethnicity, and other categories of self-identification, per Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty.

The protections that cover LGBT employees were a point of contention and caused the law to be rejected multiple times before finally passing Nov. 12, according to BuzzFeed. But the passage of LGBT-inclusive employment was a requirement set forth by the EU so that people from the Eastern European nation could travel back and forth sans visa.

The United States does not have a national law that protects LGBT citizens from discrimination—employment or otherwise—on the basis of their gender identity or sexual orientation.

But that may soon change. The Washington Post reports that President Obama endorsed an amendment to the 1964 Civil Rights Act that would extend that law’s protections to cover gender identity and sexual orientation.