Signers included Leith Anderson, President, National Association of Evangelicals; Nathan Diament, Executive Director for Public Policy, Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations of America; Stephan Bauman, President/CEO, World Relief; John Ashmen, President, Association of Gospel Rescue Missions; and Rev. Glenn M. Coleman, Presbyterian Church USA. A similar group of 14, including some of his political supporters, wrote the President, on July 1. They reminded him that his earlier opposition to same-sex marriage was based on his religious beliefs and asked him to "find a way to respect diversity of opinion ... in a way that respects the dignity of all parties". Signers included Rev. Larry Snyders of Catholic Charities USA and Dr. Rick Warren of Saddleback Church. U.S. Senator Orrin Hatch, one of the few national political figures to comment in advance of the order's release, also called for the President to include the comprehensive exemption for religious groups included in the version of ENDA that the Senate passed in November 2013. Just as the date for the release of the executive order approached, and religious exemption issue attracted increasing attention and on July 8 many LGBT advocacy groups withdrew their support for ENDA because of the religious exemptions included in the Senate version of the legislation. On July 15, a group of 69 civil rights organizations and religious groups urged the President to take a different course by not only providing no exemption for religious groups and also rescinding the exemptions for religious groups put in place by President George W. Bush in his Executive Order 13279 in 2002. It said:  Organizations signing the letter included the American Jewish Committee, B'nai B'rith International, Catholics for Choice, the Hindu American Foundation, Human Rights Campaign, the Methodist Federation for Social Action, the NAACP, the National Education Association, the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, the National Organization for Women, People For the American Way, and the Unitarian Universalist Association. When signing this order, Obama said "America's federal contracts should not subsidize discrimination against the American people". He called for Congressional action to extend similar protections to all workers, noting that more states recognize same-sex marriage than prohibit discrimination in hiring on the basis of sexual orientation. By amending earlier executive orders, Obama did not create the extensive exemptions some religious groups were demanding, but left in place a narrower exemption established with respect to federal contractors in 2002 by President Bush's Executive Order 13279. That order protected the right of religious organizations engaged in social service activities to "the employment of individuals of a particular religion".